


Pink on Green

by sssssssim



Series: Pink on Green [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-01-18 03:52:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 101
Words: 236,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1414105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sssssssim/pseuds/sssssssim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I see that drabble collections are a trend in this fandom. This is mine :).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> cover art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This fic now has a Russian translation!  
> Thank you to [@janaloreley](http://janaloreley.tumblr.com/), who was kind enough to do this. You rock, gurl! So if you wanna check that one out, go [HERE](https://ficbook.net/readfic/5092728#part_content).

 


	2. Bright Pink on Dark Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Sometimes, things you wouldn't think would be a good combination end up turning out to be like a perfect combination, you know?_ Like glossy pink and dark green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It would look good, bright pink on dark green. Who cleans the suit, anyway? Is there a washing machine in the foundry? Who patches the holes in it? Leather is not an easy material to patch up.  
> [Fans asking the TRULY IMPORTANT questions]

It was past midnight when Oliver finally made his way back to the Foundry. He had bruised ribs and a couple of scrapes on his hands and legs, but he was fairly unharmed. He was incredibly tired, though.

He spent the day in long, dreadful meetings at Queen Consolidated, only taking a break for lunch, which he spent with Thea, and it was as nerve wrecking as he expected, considering all his little sister did was try to find out what happened between him and their mother. Then, once he finally made his way to the Foundry, Felicity found some new information on their scumb-of-the-week, and he quickly geared up and went after him.

The intel they had told them it should be an easy hit, in and out. He should have surprised the guy in the act, and quickly deliver him to the SCPD. Oliver didn’t even let Diggle join him, or bother to call Sara and Roy. Felicity and Diggle agreed it was an easy enough job.

But the guy had more guards than he was supposed to, and they were very well trained, so Oliver ended up fighting about a dozen men before finally cuffing his target and shoving him into Officer’s Lance direction.

When he got to the lair, the first thing he did was take the hood off his head. Then, he put his bow and quiver down on a table, and took off his gloves. On the corner of his eyes, he saw Felicity quickly make her way towards him, and when he turned slightly towards her, she hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck. It surprised Oliver, but he didn’t let it show, quickly raising his arms and gingerly holding her.

Oliver was expecting her to let go after a few seconds, but she didn’t. She just held him tighter and pushed her head more into the crook of his neck, taking deep breaths and … if Oliver didn’t know better, he would’ve said she was taking in the scent of the hood, of the leather. It reminded him of a puppy, and that made him smile.

Felicity was shivering, slightly. Even though she was wearing jeans and a bright orange jumper, that was pretty thick and fluffy. It looked good, against the green of his hood, Oliver had a fleeting thought. Her hair was laid down, and the tips of it tickled the back of his hand, when it rested on her waist. She smelled like vanilla. Oliver didn’t know if it was her shampoo or her perfume, but he liked it, always had, so he bent his head more so he could smell more of the sweet vanilla.

And that, that surprised him.

‘Are you okay?’, he finally asked, giving her waist one last squeeze, before pulling back a little. He didn’t let go completely, though, and she didn’t either, her hands coming down on his chest.

‘For 40 minutes, all I heard were grunts and yelps and screams.', she said softly, her voice barely heard in the large space of the Foundry. 'And then you shut your comm link, which, let me tell you, you will never ever do again if you want to keep all your fingers, and I didn’t know if you were okay or not. You just said I’m on my way’, Oliver smiled at the sound of her mimicking his computer altered voice, but Felicity didn’t stop talking.

‘And we just had to wait here till you came home, and I didn’t know if you were bleeding or if you broke anything or what if you punctured your lung or-‘, she babbled, while she was playing with his suit, running her hands on the stitch where the hood was sewed to the leather, and playing with the zipper. She didn’t seem to realize she was doing it, considering she was looking into his eyes.

Oliver cut her ramblings by bringing one of his hands to the back of her neck and squeezing gently.

‘I’m fine’, he smiled down at her. ‘Slightly bruised ribs and scraped knees, but nothing an aspirin can’t fix.’

‘Okay’, Felicity sighed. She closed the space between them one more time, just for a few seconds. Oliver smiled against her head and when she went back to her computers, he turned towards the bathroom, to go change.

Only then, he realized that Digg was there too. He was a few feet aside, hands crossed over his chest, but he was smirking. If Oliver would be capable of blushing, he would have blushed. But he didn’t blush, so there was absolutely no reason for Diggle to roll his eyes.

When Oliver walked passed him, Digg stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Which then moved to the collar of his jacket, while his smile grew wider and wider.

‘The hood could use a wash’, he said in a slightly amused tone.

He didn’t offer any explanation, just pushed him towards the bathroom. Oliver frowned, but the whole interaction became very clear when he caught a glimpse of bright pink while looking in the mirror.

When he focused enough on the image, he realized that there was a glossy pink stain on the collar of his hood, a color that matched perfectly the lipstick Felicity was wearing. It also matched the shape of her lips.

Oliver shuddered. Why did he think that? Thinking about it, he realized it was probably because he was fairly familiar with her lips, considering she always wears bright colored lipstick, and his eyes are always drawn to that.

She must have accidentally brushed her lips to the leather when they hugged, Oliver thought. And seeing that, the glossy pink on his green leather, that made him feel better, for some reason.

But he always did feel better with Felicity around, when he saw her blonde hair or pink lips in the corner of his eyes; when he heard her heels clicking on the cold floor at QC; when she’d hand him a file and he was hit by a faint scent of vanilla; when he’d look at her hands every day, to see what wacky color her nails were painted.

Even when she’d yell at him, Oliver would still feel better with Felicity around. Because she’d always help him follow the right path, she’d always do what she needs, and what he needs, she’ll always be there to lift his morale with funny babbles and she was important.

Oliver knew that Felicity was important. That wasn’t new information.

The new thing was the flutter in his heart when he saw her bright pink on his dark green. And how good it looked.


	3. Gold and High Heels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short short ficlet inspired by a pair of hot heels that appeared on my tumblr dash.

Picture from [here](http://shannas-styles.tumblr.com/post/63216537660/guess-what-i-found-at-forever-21-todaaayyyyy).

 

I just want Felicity to buy these on an impulse.

There was a sale and there was only one pair left, which, surprisingly enough, were her size. So she buys them, thinking she’ll wear them for Halloween.

But the opportunity arises before that, when she buys her outfit for Thea’s birthday party. ‘Nothing too formal’, Oliver had said. ‘I won’t be wearing a tux, just a suit. No tie.’ So Felicity decided on a black corset top, paired with a leather jacket and a short draped black skirt. She planned on wearing the shoes, and a gold clutch, a black smokey eye and her usual magenta lipstick.

But of course some Arrow related emergency happened before, so she has to get ready in the Foundry. And she does, in record time, and she looks amazing, and Digg and Roy stare when she comes out of the bathroom and thank god Oliver’s changing in the other one, she thinks.

So she goes to her computers and shuts them down and grabs these shoes from her bag and puts them on, but she has to lift her foot on her chair, and bend over to close them and there’s a weird groan coming from her far left, followed suit by the sound of glass braking.

And when Felicity turns to look, Oliver is sitting in the middle of the lair, looking gorgeous as ever, frozen in the spot, gaping at her, eyes wide and jaw dropped, a broken bottle of wine at his feet. But he doesn’t say anything, just stares, as she stares back with her eyebrows raised.

In the corner of her eyes, she sees Roy and Digg rushing out the stairs, the latter muttering something that sounded like ‘meet you at the car’, and several seconds pass until they close the door behind them, and Oliver still hasn’t said anything, and he’s still staring at her, moving his eyes up and down her body.

And Felicity is tired, and she just wants to get to the party so she can have a god damn drink, so she rolls her eyes and straightens her back, and she pets Oliver’s cheek when she passes him on her way out. ‘Thanks for the compliment’, she calls to him, heading up the stairs. ‘I expect a dance by the end of the night and you better clean up that mess before you join us at the car’.

… … Oliver ends up taking off the shoes for her that night. With his teeth.


	4. Harley and Robin Hood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by my lovely [Nikki](http://nikkiagent.tumblr.com):
> 
> OLICITY PROMPT: Someone in Felicity's family needs an EMERGENCY BABYSITTER STAT! for a 0-3 year old, but she had plans with Ollie! Solution: Night in with the two of them with tiny human child. Result: Adorkableness!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how much adorkableness I delivered, but still, I gave myself some diabetes because of all the cute :3

Felicity bit her lip when she went into Oliver’s office, nervously shoving her hands into the pockets of her skirt. Oliver was already watching her with a raised eyebrow, probably sensing her discomfort.

She sighed as she reached his desk, but looked up and smiled at him.

‘What’s wrong?’, he frowned.

‘Well. Uh. Remember that dinner we were going to have tonight?’

‘Yes’, Oliver frowned some more.

‘The one you were taking me out to as a bribe, to apologize for that time you yelled at me for no reason whatsoever and that I insisted it wasn’t necessary?’

‘Are you canceling?’, Oliver said after a few beats.

‘I am so sorry’, Felicity nodded, ‘I really don’t want to, but Alice, she’s my cousin, well, we were more like sisters growing up and that hasn’t changed at all over the years, and her husband was invited to an important work thing tonight, and she has to go with him, and their babysitter canceled last minute, she’s got the flu and of course Alice isn’t going to get her to come like that –‘

‘Felicity’, Oliver interrupted with a smile on his face. ‘You have to babysit?’

‘Yes’, she said and her face lit up on the next sentence. ‘Harley is almost three. She’s a regular Disney princess, complete with bright blonde hair and big blue eyes. And she just _knows_ she’s adorable and uses it to her advantage. You’d think that’s a ridiculous thing to say about a three year old, but nope, she’s smart as hell and it can get really terrifying.’

‘Can I come?’, Oliver grins.

Felicity’s jaw dropped.

‘Can I help you babysit Harley?’, he continued, amused. ‘I’d still like to spend the evening with you and, well, I don’t remember a lot from when Thea was three, but I do remember the basics.’, he smiled, that lovely smile he got every time he spoke of his little sister and Felicity, well, she couldn’t really say no to that, could she?

‘They’ll be dropping her off at 5. I have to leave in about 10 minutes, so I can clean up a bit around my apartment, but things are slow today so… You just come whenever.’

‘When does she go to sleep?’, Oliver frowned.

Felicity winced. ‘Usually, at 8. But she always cries when her parents leave for the night, and her mom is kind of evil so she probably gave her chocolate, or sugar, or both, so, realistically speaking, it’s gonna be closer to 9.’

‘See you soon, then.’, Oliver smiled, easily. ‘I have a few reports to finish reading, then I’ll go to Vernant for a bit, to change and check up on Thea and Roy.’

‘Sure’, Felicity smiled. ‘Thank you for doing this, and I really am sorry, I was looking forward to dinner.’

‘It’s not important’, he shook his head. ‘I mean, it is important, because it’s me apologizing to you, but the dinner itself isn’t important, just your company.’

Felicity laughed. ‘Mr. Queen, please refrain from using your wooing powers on me. It’s highly unprofessional, and, truth be told, I have already been wooed.’

Oliver looked confused, but Felicity ignored him and left the office still smiling.

❤

Oliver arrived at her apartment at half past six. He was wearing a dark pair of jeans and a light brown sweater, and he smiled when he saw Felicity wearing bright pink sweatpants and an old MIT shirt. He also came bearing gifts, much to Felicity’s annoyance. But when she saw it was just a bottle of wine for her, she relaxed. He did, however, bring Harley some orange juice, some organic cookies and crackers and a small teddy bear, who was dressed as Robin Hood.

She laughed a lot at it, ignoring Oliver’s pout, and took a picture of it. She had a feeling Diggle would enjoy it in the morning.

‘Harley, this is Oliver, the friend I’ve told you about. Oliver, this is Harley.’

She was hiding behind Felicity's feet, clutching to the back of her sweats, but she was looking at Oliver with big, curious eyes.

‘Hey there, sweetie.’, he smiled, and the little girl blushed instantly, taking hold of Felicity’s hand.

‘She’s a little shy, this one’, Felicity chuckled. ‘It runs in the family, to be honest.’

Oliver hummed while he took a step forward, crouching down so he could be closer to her eye level.

‘That’s okay, pretty girls should always be a bit shy.’

Harley peeked out from Felicity’s leg, letting go of her hand, but she kept holding onto her pants. Oliver took the Robin Hood teddy from behind his back, wiggling it around in front of him.

‘I got you this’, he said. ‘So you won’t be sad anymore, that your mommy and daddy left for a bit.’

Harley nodded and slowly let go of Felicity, taking a small step in front of her, reaching out for the toy. Oliver smiled at her all the while. Harley hugged the plushy close to her chest, smiling brightly.

‘Thank you, Ol-Oliii’, she frowned and pouted.

‘My mother and sister call me Ollie’, he chuckled.

‘Thank you, Ollie’, she took a final step forward and patted his cheek a few times. Oliver was surprised for half a second, but then he grinned and leaned a bit into her touch.

Felicity will swear to the end of her days, that this, this was the moment when Oliver’s heart grew three times and fell in love with Harley. She shook her head and tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe the smile off her face.

‘Oliver also got you some orange juice and a snack, crackers and cookies. Do you want some?’

Harley turned to her and nodded. Then she asked her, ‘Robin Hood?’

‘What about him?’, Felicity frowned, gesturing toward the toy. ‘You’re hugging him.’

‘No’, Harley shook her head, and then pointed to the tv. ‘Robin Hood?’

‘Yes’, Felicity grinned. ‘I think we will. Oliver, would you please set up the dvd player while I get the snack?’

‘Sure’, he stood up. ‘Which Robin Hood are we watching?’

‘The Disney version, of course. The one with the foxes.’

Oliver froze for a second, then slowly turned his head her, raising an eyebrow.

‘I don’t remember seeing that one.’, he eventually said.

Felicity hums, but she can’t help the snort of laughter that escapes her throat. ‘You’ll love it. It is the best of the Robin Hoods out there.’ She giggled. 'The fictional ones, anyway.'

He shrugged, quickly setting up the dvd and making his way towards the bar that separated Felicity’s kitchen from the living room.

‘I’m not Robin Hood’, he smirked, sitting on one of the red bar stools.

‘Of course you’re not.’, she grinned. ‘So you’re free to help me with these oranges.’

❤

They settled for the movie on the couch, Felicity and Oliver on each end of it, with Harley happily sitting between them, silently munching on her snack and drinking her juice, her new toy safely tucked in beneath Oliver and her.

Felicity spent the next hour and a half smiling at how happy Harley seemed, joining her in singing the songs, but more often than not, she watched Oliver.

Who seemed absolutely swallowed by the film, pouting when he didn’t agree with it, asking for explanations every now and then, avidly listening to Harley or Felicity’s answers, and laughing till tears fell on his face at certain scenes. Especially the ones with Robin and Little John, and Felicity joined him in his laughter, because he knew what he was thinking. This wasn’t the first time she watched the movie, picturing Oliver as Robin and… John as Little John.

When it was over, Oliver just turned towards Felicity and shook his head, pointing at her red cheeks and tears.

‘I have no words’, he said, ‘but you will not be mentioning this. Ever.’

Felicity laughed even harder, until Harley poked her cheek and demanded pajamas. She complied.

❤

They watched Tangled after that, and Oliver still watched it with interest, even if it was clear he wasn’t so invested in it. Felicity really couldn’t believe she was on her couch with Oliver Queen, on a weekday, watching Disney fairytales, with a sleeping toddler between then.

Because Harley did fall asleep half way through the film, her head on Oliver’s thigh and her feet in Felicity’s lap. She was hugging her Robin Hood closely and Oliver kept running his fingers through her hair. But they didn’t stop the movie, and when Oliver asked something, he whispered it.

When the movie ended, Oliver looked down at Harley.

‘What do we do with her now?’, he whispered.

‘I’ll handle it.’, Felicity gently lifted her up, and Harley just barley woke up to grab her toy and wrap her feet around Felicity’s waist. As she sat the little girl in the middle of the bed, tucking her in and brushing her hair out of her face, Felicity kept singing her favorite lullaby, which she and Alice knew since they were kids.

Harley quickly fell back asleep, mumbling a barely heard ‘Night, Lis’, making Felicity smile. When she got off the bed, she saw Oliver in the doorway of her bedroom, leaning on the doorframe, with his arms crossed over his chest. He was smiling, and it was as loving as his Thea-related smiles were, making Felicity’s stomach turn.

So when she closed the door behind them, Felicity lifted herself on her toes, aiming for Oliver’s cheek. He was surprised, but he didn’t stop her, in fact, he bent down to accommodate her.

‘Thank you’, she smiled, leading him back to the living room. He followed her and took a seat next to her on the couch, but didn’t say anything, not until she opened the wine bottle and handed him a glass.

‘You’ll be a great mother’, he blurted out. His eyes widened a bit exactly after he said it, so Felicity thought Oliver didn’t really mean to say it out loud.

She smiled. ‘You’d be the badass dad who’d spoil his kid behind the mother’s back.’

Oliver laughed. ‘I’d never do that to you.’

Felicity’s heart dropped, and so did her jaw. She was in shock, to say the least. But Oliver was still smiling, and taking a sip of his wine.

‘Do you realize you said that out loud?’, Felicity managed to squee, a few seconds later.

Oliver froze. ‘What did I say?’

‘That you’d never do that to me.’

‘Huh’, Oliver leaned his head to the side. ‘Is your babbling contagious?’


	5. I just died in your arms tonight... No, you didn't.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANON GAVE ME THIS PROMPT: _I had this really weird dream of Oliver getting drunk at someone's birthday party and he sings the song "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" to Felicity._

Felicity wasn’t planning on having a party for her birthday. In fact, she wasn’t planning anything except for going to work and then curling on her sofa with her favorite movies and chocolate. Luckily, this plan was feasible because Team Arrow all ganked up on Oliver, requesting a night off, and, surprisingly enough, he obliged.

She didn’t even think they knew it was her birthday. It was a wrong assumption, apparently, because when she came in the office, Oliver was waiting for her with a big bouquet of pink and purple tulips, and Diggle gave her a box of expensive chocolate. They both kissed her cheek, at the same time. It was hilarious, and adorable, and she blushed and giggled, spending the rest of the day addressing them as _my boys._

The surprise came half an hour after she got home from work, just as she was getting out of the shower, in the form of a text from Roy.

_ETA 20 mins. Head count: 4. Put on decent clothes._

Her first reaction was to panic, but she managed to text Roy a simple _what?_. All she got as an answer was _no emergency_. It confused her even more.

But she did head to her bedroom, putting on a pair of blue jeans, a pink tank top and a comfy purple sweater, that was a couple of sizes too big and hung very loosely on her frame, that had a cute pattern of little pink hearts. She blow dried her hair half way through, till the bell rang.

The door opened before she got there, and she regretted giving Digg a copy of her key a while back, but then she saw him coming into her apartment, grinning and carrying a to-go box from her favorite bakery. He didn’t say anything, just headed towards the kitchen.

Roy was behind him, carrying a couple of Big Belly Burgers bags, and a couple of other bags filled with wine and beer. Thea came in next, with a bouquet of  white roses.

The girl ordered Roy to go set the booze up in the kitchen, and she made her way towards Felicity, handling her the flowers and hugging her.

‘Happy birthday, hope you don’t mind we decided to take over your night. It was my idea, so if you wanna blame anyone, blame me. But please refrain from doing so until after we’ve left. It’s only polite.’

In her shock, Felicity managed to mumble a ‘thank you’, and direct Thea to her bedroom, where she kept a vase.

Then, Oliver was in front of her, handing her a single red rose, with a fond smile on his face.

‘Do you mind?’

‘I really don’t’, Felicity said, still in shock.

‘Good’, Oliver nodded and kissed her cheek. ‘Because there is good food, and cupcakes, and a lot of alcohol. And we are both taking a personal day tomorrow, as far as work is concerned.’

Felicity wanted to argue, but she realized quickly enough it was futile.

Thea came back from her bedroom, a huge smile on her face.

‘I love your apartment, Felicity. Your bedroom is absolutely to die for. I never really liked all-white rooms, but the way you brought color into it is absolutely gorgeous.’

‘Gorgeous?’, Oliver asked, amused.

Thea raised her eyebrow. ‘You haven’t seen her bedroom before?’

At Oliver’s glare, she explained. ‘There are like 50 different little things in there, that are like 80 different colors. A mug here, a painting there, a pillow, a statue, a book. It looks absolutely corky and beautiful and fun.’

‘Just life Felicity’, Oliver chuckled, surprising both the women.

Thea recovered first. ‘Yeah, just like our birthday girl. And on that note’, she put a hand round Felicity’s shoulder, guiding her towards the kitchen, ‘let’s drink and eat.’

(˘ ᵕ˘(˘ᵕ ˘)

Four hours later, Felicity was tipsy, Diggle was highly amused, Thea was a pain in the ass, Roy was giving everybody water and tidying up, and Oliver was incredibly drunk.

It was an unbelievable sight to see. He took off his shoes a while back, and his jumper, but thankfully he was wearing a white tshirt underneath. But he spent the last hour laughing, incredibly loud, at absolutely anything. Apparently, he grew incredibly talkative when he was drunk, and Thea was taking advantage of this. She kept asking him to tell embarrassing stories from highschool, and he did.

Surprising absolutely nobody, all the stories either featured Tommy, or were embarrassing sex stories, or both. Felicity did not want to hear about Oliver pre-island ever again. But she laughed, how couldn’t she? And she enjoyed herself, truly having fun for what seemed like the first time in years.

Then, in the middle of a story, Oliver turned around to look at Felicity, where she was sitting beside him on the couch, with her feet on the coffee table. He stopped talking for a few seconds, smiling at her, and she instinctively smiled back. Then, Oliver continued his story, much to everyone’s amusement, but bent his body till his head was resting in Felicity’s lap,  one hand tucked under her thigh, the other one playing with the hem of his shirt. He continued the story as if nothing happened.

Diggle raised an eyebrow, Roy winked, and Thea started taking pictures on her phone. Felicity groaned.

(˘ ᵕ˘(˘ᵕ ˘)

An hour later, Thea was doing most of the talking, taking her turn of telling embarrassing stories about Oliver, and Felicity was glad, because she liked these stories more. These were the stories of a big brother taking care of his little sister, of a spoiled brat causing chaos in the kitchen, of a mama’s boy exasperating his father.

The man himself seemed to be asleep. Oliver hasn’t said anything in more than half an hour and his eyes were closed, his head still in Felicity’s lap. She heard him mumbling, so she started gently scratching his head, hoping she’d calm him down enough to get him out of a nightmare.

But Oliver wasn’t having a nightmare. He wasn’t asleep either. Because the next thing Felicity realized, was that Oliver was singing.

So did everyone else, apparently, because they stopped talking and were staring at him with various looks of shock.

Oliver was singing _I just died in your arms tonight._ But he didn’t know the lyrics, any lyrics except for that one, and what came out was that line and a bunch of mumbling. He snuggled more into Felicity’s body, pushing the back of his head into her stomach, hugging one of her legs with both his hands. And he didn’t stop singing.

Felicity was biting her lips to keep from laughing, even though she knew her cheeks were as red as her carpet. Roy had his head buried in a pillow, but his body was shaking, Diggle was watching Oliver with wide eyes and a hand over his mouth, and Thea was filming it all.

At one point, Oliver rubbed his cheek against her thigh, and said her name before the lyric. Everybody laughed even harder, but Felicity only blushed more, her heart beating out of her chest. 

A few minutes later, Oliver settled and stopped singing, but he didn’t let go of Felicity’s leg. He fell asleep quickly, his breathing evening out and he started snoring softly.

(˘ ᵕ˘(˘ᵕ ˘)

When Felicity couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore, Thea took pity on her. She directed Diggle and Roy to carry Oliver to the bedroom, and she cleaned up the living room a bit.  

Felicity was too drunk and tired to care.

She just kissed Thea, thanked her for everything, hugged Roy and ruffled his hair, and kissed Diggle’s cheek, telling him to lock the door on his way out.

She didn’t think much, just put on a pair of sweatpants and an old tshirt, and got into bed, next to Oliver. Who was sleeping peacefully, hugging a pillow and snoring softly.

Felicity feel asleep instantly.

(˘ ᵕ˘(˘ᵕ ˘)

She woke up with a start, having heard someone groaning, followed by a gruff yelp and a thud.

The night before came back to her quickly and she sat up straight, looking around for Oliver. She found him on the floor, with a hand still on the bed, clutching the sheets, a wild expression on his face. A snort escaped her lips.

Oliver looked absolutely ravished. He took off his shirt sometime during the night, and there was a slight sheen of sweat all over his chest. His eyes were red rimmed and he had big dark circles under them, his stubble looked messy and his hair, little as it was, was plastered to his forehead. Oliver’s jaw was dropped and he was blinking slowly up at her.

‘Are you alright?’, Felicity asked around a smile. ‘I’m sure you’re not, you’re bound to have one hell of a headache and you did just sleep in your jeans, that’s absolutely the worst. But did you have a nightmare?’

Oliver shook his head.

‘Good, good.’, she nodded and threw herself back on her pillow, grabbing the comforter and wrapping it around her shoulders. ‘There’s aspirin in the bathroom cabinet and feel free to have coffee and breakfast, if you manage to find anything.’

She closed her eyes, and Oliver was silent, but he didn’t move. So after a few minutes, she scooted over more on his side, so she could look him in the eyes.

‘What?’, Felicity whispered, smiling softly against her better judgment.

Oliver winces. ‘I just died in your arms tonight?’

Felicity snorts. ‘No, you didn’t.’

She takes a deep breath and returns to her side of the bed, turning her back to him. ‘It’s early, Oliver. Either come back to bed, or go make coffee.’

It takes another few minutes, but eventually Felicity hears him take off his jeans and get back into bed. Oliver surprises her by edging closer and putting a hand over her waist. She doesn’t complain or ask any questions, she’s too tired for that. She just snuggles more into the heat radiating from his body.

‘I still have to give you my present.’, Oliver whispers, and his breath tickles the back of her neck.

‘What present?’, she mumbles, already half asleep.

‘A bow and arrow to match your hair’.

She chuckles and quickly falls asleep.

(˘ ᵕ˘(˘ᵕ ˘)

 When they wake up a couple of hours later, their limbs are tangled and Felicity feels incredibly warm. Inside and out.

Felicity makes them pancakes and coffee, gives Oliver aspirins and fresh orange juice, making sure to explain to him how important it is to get to Thea’s phone and delete the evidence.

Even the morning after, she’s still having fun. Felicity expected it to be awkward, but it’s not. It’s entertaining and cute and it makes her heart flutter.

When Oliver gives her a gold necklace, with a matching pendant of a bow and arrow, she kisses the tip of his nose and tells him that he’s not being subtle.

He says that he doesn’t care and puts it around her neck.

She doesn’t take it off for a long while.


	6. I'll know your name as it's called again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Iloveyourintimate](http://Iloveyourintimate.tumblr.com): Yay! Angst-y drama feels are welcomed! AU - Oliver Queen is a soldier who was seriously traumatized on a mission and now he is a war hero going home. His wife Felicity (and his 4 years old daughter), whom he doesn't remember because of his various traumas (physical and mental), works as a physical therapist and her goal is to help Oliver to recover, but his daughter is the one who makes him remember his previous life. Thank you!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHMYGOD THIS THING. ARGH.  
> I loved the prompt. So so so much. I cried writing this, cause I'm a wuss. I just...  
> I want this to be a 40k fic. Written by someone better than me. So please, for the love of god, if you want to do it, please just please do it, cause I WANT IT.

Oliver woke up slowly, so very very slowly. Everything hurt. Moving his fingers hurt, turning his head hurt, breathing hurt. When he managed to blink, he was faced with a pair of bright blue eyes, slightly hidden behind a pair of glasses.

‘Oh, my love’, he heard a woman’s voice whisper. Then she took a small step back, and he could see her long blonde hair and the big bags under her eyes. He had no idea who she was.

‘I’ll go bring the doctor’, she says, as she starts crying. But Oliver feels her fingers tighten on his arms, and then she’s out the door, in a whirlwind.

Oliver tried saying something, but his throat felt too dry.

He had no idea who she was.

**↗↗↗**

A bunch of doctors come in a few minutes later, and they all seemed relieved. As they check his chart and other things, one of them helps him drink some water.

‘I am sorry, sir, but we decided it was best to leave your wife outside while we check up on you. You’ve been in a coma for a couple of days, we need to make sure everything is alright.’

Oliver just stares at him.

‘There was an explosion, do you remember that?’, the doctor frowns. ‘Your squadron was ambushed in Afghanistan. You were the closest one to the explosion center, so you got hurt the most.’

When Oliver still doesn’t say anything, the doctor shares a look with the other ones.

‘Maybe’, one of them in the back says, ‘we should get his wife here. She might be better at handling this.’

‘I don’t-‘, he tries to talk, but his throat still feels dry. The doctor gives him more water.

‘I don’t remember having a wife’, he manages to wheeze out, eventually.

One of the doctors curses, and the other ones share a look of shock. The one closest to him puts a hand on his shoulder. He does it gently, but it still hurts.

‘Son, what _do_ you remember?’

Oliver panics. They have to sedate him.

**↗↗↗**

He remembers that his name is Oliver Queen. He remembers his rank and he remembers his platoon. He remembers that he is from Starling City and that his e-mail password is _arrow141_.

He knows that his parents died in a car crash when he was 10. He knows that he stayed with Tommy’s family after that. He knows Tommy died in his arms on his first Afghanistan tour. He knows John Diggle is his closest friend. He knows his birthday and that he’s allergic to seafood.

Besides that, he just remembers little pieces of memories, scattered around and making no sense. Tommy fixing his bowtie for some formal event. Having a beer with Digg. Buying tampons for someone. His mother’s lasagna. Standing under the Eiffel Tower.

Oliver is scared. There is no enemy shooting at him, but he doesn’t think he has ever been so afraid in his life.

**↗↗↗**

The doctors tell him that he was in a coma for 10 days. The ones in Afghanistan did the best that they could, and flew him back to the states.

He has a few broken ribs, a cracked hip, his left arm is also broken, as his collarbone. A number of bruises and cuts draped his whole body. He had a few swelled areas in his brain, and that is the reason they induced the coma after the first 5 days, when he was showing signs of waking up. But the swellings were gone now, so his memories should be coming back, in time.

He is expected to make a full recovery, but the process will be long and painful. There are months of physical therapy ahead of him and the doctors warned him that he will have to speak to a specialist in regards of his lost memories.

They also told him that the best thing for him right now is to go home to his wife. Someone called Felicity, who was working as a physical therapist in the hospital, and to their four year old daughter, Molly.

Oliver couldn’t say anything, so he just nodded.          

**↗↗↗**

John visits him a couple of hours later. They hug and John says the things Oliver needs to hear, just like he always does.

‘They’re discharging you. With honors. If it wasn’t for you, we would’ve all been dead.’

‘They discharged me too. Don’t really understand why, but they said it was the combinations of injuries I had. There wasn’t anything fully life threatening, but my performance will go down, apparently. I don’t know man, I just think they figured out I’d never be as good as I was under your command.’

‘Lyla’s not going back on the field, either. She got a job in the FBI. Starling City based. So we’re moving here.’

‘No, Oliver, I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for her. The fact that you’re here is just a bonus.’

‘You’re not alone man. I’ve got your back, like I always do.’

‘I’m not gonna say it’s gonna be easy to get through this. Cause it’s not. It’s gonna be the hardest thing you ever did. But I’ll help you every way than I can. And Felicity too.’

‘I’m so sorry you can’t remember her. She… Maybe you’ll get to fall in love with her all over again. From what you told me, it was the happiest time of your life.’

‘You do, you do love her. And Molly. More than anything. And they love you. I’ve… I’ve been staying with them these past few days, just until the paperwork comes through for the apartment I got with Lyla. They understand what happened, and the doctors made them understand what you’ll be going through over the next few months. They’re willing to do anything for you.’

‘Felicity isn’t the best woman I met, Lyla is. She is second best, though. And Felicity is the best woman for you. You’ll learn that again, in time. Or you’ll remember it. Either way, you need to trust her, Oliver. I know trust is a hard thing for you, but… If you don’t trust her, then trust me when I tell you that you _need_ to trust her. I’m not saying you need to like her, I’m not saying you need to love her, but you need to trust her. Or else you won’t get better. You need her and you need her help.’

‘Do you want to see a picture of them?’

Oliver’s heart skipped a beat, but he took a deep breath and he nodded.

John got out his wallet and pulled out a small picture, that was taken somewhere outside, somewhere with grass and trees. The blonde woman, who was at his side when he woke up, Felicity, was smiling up at the camera, lips a bright pink color, and she was wearing a dark blue polka dotted dress. She was holding onto a little girl’s hand, Molly, who had bright blue eyes and long, dark blonde hair. She was wearing a pink tutu dress and she had a teddy bear in the hand that wasn’t holding onto her mother’s.

And Oliver, Oliver was sitting behind Felicity, with his hands around her waist, his chin hooked over her shoulder, smiling fondly down at Molly.

‘I look so happy’, he whispered and realized he had been looking at the picture for a long time. He was crying, even though he didn’t know when the tears started falling.

‘You were, man.’, Diggle nods, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. ‘Nothing ever made you happier than Felicity and Molly.’

Oliver starts sobbing then. It hits him like a brick, how many things he must have lost. How many memories, how many important things he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know where he met Felicity, when he proposed, how he proposed. He doesn’t remember their first date, their first kiss, their first night together. He doesn’t remember when Felicity told him that he’s going to be a father. He doesn’t remember his daughter being born, or her first word or her first footsteps.

He cries for a long time, clutching the picture to his chest. Digg holds him through it.

**↗↗↗**

Digg is the one who drives him home from the hospital a week later. Felicity hasn’t visited him once, and for that, he is thankful. John has been there every day for a few hours, just talking to him about random things. Most of the time, it wasn’t anything important, but sometimes, he’d slip some information about Felicity and Molly, something they said or thought.

Oliver still didn’t know much about his family. But, he found himself happy he had one. Even though he hasn’t met them yet, John did convince him, he’ll trust Felicity. He has to, because he knows he won’t make it whole out of this. Not without her. With Felicity by his side, he has a chance.

**↗↗↗**

He isn’t tired when he leaves the hospital, surprisingly enough. He feels like he had enough sleep to last him a lifetime. He’s sore and uncomfortable, and the doctor gave him a huge file to give to Felicity, filled with instruction for the physical therapy he has to go through, about what he should eat, how he should sleep, which doctors he has to see in the upcoming year and when to see them.

Oliver doesn’t understand much of the things in the file. But Digg assured him that Felicity will, and that she will take care of everything and explain everything to him.

Digg stops the car in front of a bright red fence. They’re in a suburb district of the city, but this house seems a bit out of place, in comparison to the ones surrounding it. For once, it has a huge garden, twice as big as the ones around it. And while the other houses had two or three floor, this one had only one. Its door was painted the same bright red that was on the fence, and the rest of the house was a muted orange, with dark brown accents. There was a big swing set in the garden, an inflatable pool, a couple of balls and other various colorful toys.

Oliver has to use a wheelchair. It’s extremely degrading for his ego, but he tried walking to the hospital bathroom once. He succeeded, but the pain reached new levels. So Diggle has to help him get out of the car and into the chair. He pushes the fence open, and starts rolling him through the yard. Halfway through the path, the front door opened and Felicity stepped out.

Oliver’s heart skipped a beat, because she was more beautiful than he imagined. She was wearing jeans and a purple cardigan, her hair was in a pony tail and she was wearing her glasses. Her blonde hair seemed soft and her cheeks were flushed. Her lips were a softer shade of pink than in the picture he saw, and she was barefoot. She waited for them on the porch, and Oliver was surprised to see there was a ramp installed besides the stairs, making it easier for Digg to get him up.

‘Hi’, Felicity said, sitting in front of him, but a fair distance between them, so that Oliver didn’t have to look up too much. ‘Are you tired?’

‘Not at the moment, no.’

‘Good’, she sighed. ‘Okay. We made some sandwiches and coffee, if you want, if you’re up for that.’

He nodded, but didn’t say anything. Felicity bit her lip and narrowed her eyes, and then she turned to Digg.

‘John. Molly’s in the kitchen, would you mind watching her for a few minutes, while I talk some basics with Oliver?’

Diggle put a hand on Oliver’s shoulder, squeezing gently. ‘Yell if you need me.’

When they were alone, Felicty took a few seconds to skim her eyes all over his body, probably counting his remaining injuries. She nodded and took a deep breath, looked into his eyes and smiled.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t come to the hospital anymore, after you woke up. But the doctors and Digg, they agreed it was better to give you some time to… get used to the idea.’

He nodded. ‘It was a good plan.’

‘Okay’. Felicity hesitated, but then took a few steps forward, closing the distance between them. She crouched down so that he was sitting higher than her, and put a hand on one of the wheels of the chair, steadying herself. She must have sensed his discomfort, because she didn’t touch him. She just looked up at him and smiled.

‘I know this must be horrible for you. I get it. We both do, Molly and I. She’s a smart girl, she understands what happened and what is going to happen next. And I know that we’re strangers to you and that you don’t trust easily. But…’, she took a deep breath. ‘Please, just remember that you’re not a stranger to us. So when you need something, when you want something, any questions you have, please, don’t hesitate to ask us, me and Molly both.’

She takes a break in her speech, but Oliver can’t say anything, he can’t move, he can barely breathe and he can’t take his eyes away from hers, from all the love she’s radiating.

‘If you don’t think you can handle Molly, tell me and Digg and Lyla agreed to take her until you’re ready.’

‘No’, Oliver manages to say. ‘No, I… I want to meet her.’

Felicity looks relieved by that. ‘Good. Okay. Look, we’ll talk about the details later, we’ll have time. But the most important thing right now is that you let us help you. Okay? It doesn’t matter, that we’re married, that I love you. It doesn’t matter that you don’t love me, that you don’t know Molly… We’ll figure that out as we go along’, she shrugs. ‘The only thing that matters right now is that you let us help you get better. And if something’s wrong, you tell us. Okay? Your health, physically and mentally is the most important thing.’

Oliver is silent for a few seconds, and Felicity waits him out, not moving or letting her eyes leave him.

‘You’re a strong woman’, he manages to say.

She smiles. ‘Learned that from you.’

They stay like that for a few more seconds, in each other’s space, looking but not touching, until Oliver’s stomach growls loudly, making Felicity snort.

‘Let’s get some food in you’, she said and got up, opening the front door and pushing Oliver through it.

‘Let’s introduce me to my daughter’, he whispers breathlessly, and Felicity squeezes his shoulder.

They get inside the house, but Oliver doesn’t even look at it, focusing on the kitchen, where Digg and Molly are seated at a table. His daughter is gorgeous, and when she sees him, she smiles so big and loving, it makes his heart ache. She makes Diggle get her off of her chair, and as she makes her way towards him, Oliver sees she’s wearing white leggings, a jeans skirt and a t-shirt with Minnie on it.

‘Hi, Daddy’, she smiles, putting her hand on his knees, and Oliver feels a few tears threatening to escape. ‘I'm sorry’, she frowns, ‘I know you don’t remember me, but before you left, you told me to always call you daddy, no matter what.’

‘It’s okay’, he manages to say. ‘You can call me that. I like it.’

‘Yay’, she laughed and made her way back to her chair next to Diggle. ‘I’m hungry, Mommy.’

Felicity sighed and muttered a ‘wait a bit’, while she rolled Oliver forward, until he was seated with them at the table. He was surprised to see that he wasn’t sitting lower than everyone else. The table and chairs must be smaller than normal, he thought, and judging by the way Diggle kept accidentally kicking Felicity under the table, that was probably it.

**↗↗↗**

Over the next months, Oliver learned a lot of things.

He learned that Felicity was very good at her job, she worked part time at the hospital as a physical therapist, and when she got home she still took care of different patients, for a smaller fee. She had turned the house’s garage in a training room, filled with all the equipment necessary to do her work. But since Oliver came back, she quit her job at the hospital, spending all the time at home with him and Molly. Different people still came to her for therapy, and the schedule was on the fridge.

She worked with Oliver daily, some times more that once a day, and she was very thorough with her work. No matter how much Oliver complained of the pain, no matter how many times he wanted to quit it all, to just stop, she kept pressing him, and motivating him in any way she could, promising his full recovery on the long run.

He learned that they didn’t need the money. They both lost their parents, and along with that came a lot of insurance money. They spent it together after they met, buying the house and investing some of it. Before Tommy died, they bought a club together. They were now the owners of it, and it was a well oiled machine that brought them more money than they would ever need. ‘We’re not rich’, Felicity had said. ‘But we could consider ourselves rich. Easily. But that’s really not our MO.’

Oliver learned how to not feel like a burden. It was hard, and Felicity and Diggle both worked hard to convince him it’s not the case. He felt crippled, and every time he needed Felicity’s help to get into bed or get dressed, his ego shattered. He thought they pitied him. He thought that he was ruining their lives, especially Felicity’s. He was ashamed and he often thought it would have been better if he died in that explosion.

He made the mistake of saying it out loud during one of their sessions, a particularly hard one. Felicity froze for a second, but then she silently helped him back into his wheelchair. Then she kneeled in front of him and slapped him. Hard. Then, she spent the next 10 minutes crying and yelling at him, telling him that he is important, that he matters. That she doesn’t care if he will never love her again, but that she will do everything humanly possible to get him back on the right path. The last thing she said made him cry.

‘I will never give up on you, Oliver, because I know you would do the same for me if our roles were reversed. If you’re bent on being a martyr, if you want to think only about the people around you and not at all about yourself, then think about how Molly’s life would be without you in it. Think about how much she would miss her father and how much she’ll hate you for quitting. Think about me, about how hard it would be for me to pick up the pieces, to pick her up, to pick myself up. Don’t be a martyr, Oliver. Don’t be selfish either. It’s not just about you, this was never just about you.’

He learned that Felicity was a very unconventional woman. She wore bright colors, short skirts and high heels. The bright pink lips were a trademark. She babbled a lot, getting sidetracked easily and she said inappropriate things to him multiple times a day. She’d always blush and fluster after, but, with time, he learned to smile at them, enjoying her subconscious flirtations, not feeling inadequate anymore.

He realized that they were married before, happily so, that they didn’t have secrets and they had a healthy, sappy (according to Diggle) relationship. But Oliver wasn’t ready to go back to that, he wasn’t sure if it will ever be like it was before. And Felicity was aware of this. But that didn’t stop her. After a particular hard day, where she pushed him hard at therapy, she offered to help him take a shower. It usually was an easy enough task, the bathroom he used had a big open shower, fitted with a chair and different bars to help him change positions.

He refused at first, but she leveled him with a look. ‘You’re tired, Oliver. Don’t make it worse.’ He still hesitated. ‘You do realize I saw you naked before, right? I know we don’t talk about it, but we did have a child together. It’s nothing I’ve never seen before, and I promise you I will keep it professional.’

‘You haven’t seen me like this, Felicity’, he sighed. ‘I have more scars than I can count.’ A flash of something passed through her eyes, and she puffed and straightened her back. ‘Nobody will ever care about that, Oliver. I… Okay. So I’ll see something new. We should be on the same level, so… I’ll shower with you. Naked or in my underwear, however you prefer.’

His jaw dropped, and he stared in shock at her, his heart beat getting slightly elevated. He wanted to say no, but he couldn’t, not when she sighed and ran a finger over the frown between his eyebrows, while softly whispering ‘let me help’.

She kept her underwear and bra on, and never once looked anywhere but his face. A month later, they were in the same conditions again, but this time, after she shut the water and he put on a pair of boxers, he took hold of her hand and told her to look at the scars. She did, slowly, not once showing any emotion on her face. When she was done, she looked in his eyes and smiled. Then, she took a step backwards and showed him every scar she had. From the c-section, from a bike accident when she was 10, from burning her hand with a sterilization machine in college, and so on.

Oliver learned that Felicity always had mint chip icecream stashed in the freezer, and that she liked red wine. He saw that her bedroom was painted a warm orange, paired with dark wood accents and the bed sheets were always white. He didn’t sleep with her, he slept in a guest bedroom across the hall. But every now and then, he’d have nightmares. Flashbacks from the war, making him scream in his sleep and wake up panicked. The first time it happened, she woke him up by throwing a pillow on his face, apologizing afterwards, explaining that she knew he got violent until he came back. Then, she didn’t say anything more, but she came into his bed, sitting up against the headboard, putting a pillow on her lap and directing his head onto it. He slept peacefully that night.

He learned a lot about the milestones in their relationships, because after two months, he gave in and asked. Oliver now knew they met in highschool, when Tommy tried to chat her up in the library, and she told them that they should really stop being hormonal teenagers and start studying for their history test next week. She then helped them study and the three of them became friends. They got together in college, they’ve dated for 5 years before he proposed. He did it on the morning of their anniversary, waking her up with breakfast in bed, putting the ring on the tray without saying anything more. She started crying and said ‘yes’ either way. They got married one year later, and Molly came the year after. They weren’t planning on having a baby, but once they found out, there was no choice to make.

And Molly, Oliver learned so many things about Molly. She liked pink, and Disney movies. She hated peas, loved grapefruit juice and spent at least an hour a day playing with her hair, braiding it in different ways. She was a very tactile child, always touching him if he was around. Their relationship was strained at the beginning, but it didn’t last long. Oliver fell in love with her quickly, and fully. He tried to do everything she wanted, he talked to her about anything she wanted. Once he got rid of the wheel chair, and he could walk using crutches, he went outside in the yard with her and watched her play for hours. Somewhere along the way, he was the one to tuck her in to bed at night, reading her a story and kissing her forehead.

He cares about Felicity. And it’s not because he knows he had before, or because he thinks he had too. No, he cares about Felicity because she deserves it. Because he trusts her, more than anyone else, more than Diggle and a lot more than himself. Oliver doesn’t know if it’s love. He doesn’t know if it’s enough to make their marriage work. But, he trusts Felicity, so he does as she says. He doesn’t think about that, he just focuses on getting better.

He talks to a psychiatrist twice a week. Shado Fay is a complicated woman, whom he’ll never understand. But she does help him a lot. She’s understanding and doesn’t rush him into doing or saying anything he’s not comfortable with. She never once asked about his relationship with Felicity or with Molly, just made sure he was comfortable and that the environment he was in was favorable for his convalescence.

But he starts talking about them. Hesitantly at first, but he tells Shado how much he loves Molly and how he thinks he could learn to love Felicity again. How he wants to, but how afraid he is. She asks him why, and he doesn’t have an answer, not really. So Oliver just tells her what Felicity said, that he needs to focus on getting better, physically and mentally, and when the time comes, he’ll make a decision about his wife and his daughter.

Shado smiles and tells him that is the best thing he has ever said to her.

**↗↗↗**

Oliver starts remembering things. After 4 months, he’s coloring with Molly when she starts talking about dinosaurs. And he remembers taking her to an exhibit that had dinosaur bones, and how Felicity and him had to take her out of it, when she started crying because she was sad the dinosaurs died.

He doesn’t mention it.

It happens more and more, after that. Most of the time, it’s memories about Molly. About the sleepless nights they had when she was a baby, about her first birthday, about her first steps, about her first words.

He tells Shado, and she stops some of his medication.

A month later, he can walk without crutches, but no more than 30 minutes at a time. His doctor tells him he has made an incredible recovery, and that Felicity should continue with his therapy, but not so aggressively. He doesn’t take pain medication anymore, and a part of the scars have disappeared.

Then, he starts remembering things about Felicity. He remembers their first kiss, late at night before one of her midterms, in the darkness of his bedroom, with Tommy snoring on the floor. He remembers their honey moon in Paris, the red pair of boots he brought for her there. He remembers parts of their wedding, Tommy’s best man speech and Felicity’s uncle walking her down the aisle. The moment he remembers their first night together, he has to get out of the living room to take a deep breath. Felicity follows him, concerned, asks him what’s wrong.

And he just breaks down. They’re on the porch, and he’s sitting on a chair, and she’s kneeling in front of him, a comforting hand on his knee. And she’s looking up at him with wide eyes and he starts crying and tells her everything. She doesn’t say one word, just lets him talk for what feels like hours, while he explains every single detail he remembered.

When he’s done, and out of breath, and looking desperately at her, she smiles and asks if she can hug him. He just nods, and Felicity pounces on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him tight. Oliver buries his hands in the tip of her pony tail, and cries, and cries, and cries, until he doesn’t have tears anymore. He doesn’t know if he’s happy or if he’s sad, and he doesn’t care, because Felicity made it better.

It’s been 10 months since he came back, and he can finally call this place ‘home’. It feels right, it feels like his heart is in the right place. He couldn’t have done that without Felicity. And he hates himself for not remembering more, for not remembering the love he had for her.

**↗↗↗**

That night, Oliver moves into Felicity’s bedroom. Their bedroom.

At first, she refuses, tells him he doesn’t have to do this.

‘I know. I don’t… I don’t remember everything. I still feel like I’m not remembering what’s important. I don’t…’, he takes a deep breath, but he can’t say the words out loud.

But Felicity knows them anyway. ‘You don’t love me. And that’s okay, Oliver, I told you that this isn’t about us.’

‘It’s about me’, he agrees. ‘And right now, what I need, is to sleep in the same bed with you, to hold you close and I need you to remind me that you’re my best friend. Not my wife, not the mother of my child, I need you to be my best friend again and for you to teach me how to be yours.’

She stares for a few seconds, then takes the pile of t-shirts out of his hands and puts them in the closet.

They don’t sleep that night. They stay curled around one another under the sheets, with their eyes closed and their voices low. She talks a lot, tells him stories about them, from highschool till parenthood, and he remembers some of them, he remembers things she doesn’t say. It’s not anything important, just details, what she was wearing on their first anniversary, what Diggle got them at the baby shower, what he said at Tommy’s funeral, what he said when he first saw Molly in the hospital.

It’s not anything important, but it feels important to him. It feels like a beginning.

They fall asleep after the sun comes up, dried tears on their faces and bodies flushed.

**↗↗↗**

He stops seeing Shado soon after. He still talks to Diggle sometimes, takes things off his chest and asks for his advice. More often than not, John tells him to talk to Felicity.

And he does. They talk for hours at a time. After Molly goes to sleep, they talk about everything and anything, from movies to politics. She keeps brining up small memories, and he keeps filling in the blanks.

Oliver falls in love with Felicity all over again. The moment he realizes that is the moment he knows he remembers everything he did before the explosion.

He’s in the living room, watching The Little Mermaid with Molly, while Felicity is in the garage with a client.

‘Daddy, why are you crying?’, his daughter asks, snuggling into his side.

‘I… I’m happy, pumpkin.’, he whispers, hugging her tightly and burying his nose in her hair.

‘Then you should be laughing, not crying.’

‘I’m so sorry, baby girl. I’m so sorry you had to go through this.’

‘What?’, she asks, pushing against his chest so she can look at him.

‘I… You shouldn’t have had to see your daddy like that. Broken and helpless and I know it was hard for you to understand what was happening, but you did so well. You helped me so much, Molly, you have no idea. You helped me remember, remember everything I forgot and I fought. I fought to get better because of you, for you. I love you so much.’

He’s crying and she’s wiping the tears away with her hands.

‘Daddy, stop crying. I love you too.’

Oliver holds her tight and he doesn’t let go for a long time.

**↗↗↗**

A year and a half after he came back from the war, he proposes to Felicity. Again. Just like the last time. He makes her the same breakfast, brings it in bed early in the morning, and puts one of Molly’s plastic rings on it.

‘Oliver, what’s wrong?’, Felicity asks, sleepily, when he shakes her awake.

He doesn’t say anything, just pushes the tray towards her. She frowns and rubs at her eyes and snorts when she sees the ring.

‘How did this get here?’, she snickers, picking it up.

‘I put it there.’, he smiles.

Felicity freezes and stares at the ring in her hand.

‘I love you’, he says. ‘I don’t _just_ love you, Felicity. I fell in love with you again. Over and over again and I remembered. I remembered how much I loved you before and I know how much I loved you now. And I remember everything and I am so sorry for putting you through this. But I am so grateful that you did, that you stayed by my side. Because, Felicity, I would have been dead and gone 10 times over and I don’t… I don’t want to live a day in my life without you by my side anymore. I can’t and I won’t. So please, marry me again, every day, over and over again, till our daughter’s all grown up, and our grandchildren are all grown up, till the only thing I have left is my love for you.’

She’s crying, and he is crying. And when she looks at him, she takes a deep breath and whispers ‘You’re home’.

**↗↗↗**

 They kiss for hours, making promises and sharing _I love you_ ’s under the covers.

Diggle knocks on their door at some point.

‘I would just like to inform you that your kid is in the kitchen, attempting to make sandwiches. I feel like it’s not gonna end well.’

They both laugh and share one last kiss. Oliver gets out of bed and doesn’t bother putting on a shirt, opening the door, starling Diggle and grinning.

‘What’s wrong?’, he asks, probably seeing Oliver’s red eyes and Felicity’s matching ones.

Oliver just laughs and hugs his friend. ‘Nothing’s wrong. Everything is absolutely perfect.’


	7. Thea (always) Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity decides she needs to have a conversation with Thea. Set after 2x18.

Felicity was in the Foundry, working on her computers. Sara, Oliver and Digg were training behind her, and the sounds of their sparring filled her ears, even if she learned to push it in the background a long time ago.

Since Slade appeared, and all the mayhem he caused and threatened to continue causing, she made it a habit to keep the video feeds for Verdant open on one of her monitors. After Thea’s kidnapping, Felicity thought it was the least she could do.

It was past noon on a Saturday, so nobody was supposed to be in yet. But when Felicity saw movement on the feed, she saw Thea coming into the bar. She was wearing jeans and a red hoodie which was clearly Roy’s.

The younger Queen was walking slowly towards the bar, and when she sat down on one of the stools, Felicity saw she was crying. It broke her heart a bit. She turned her head to look towards the training mats, saw that all three of her team mates were invested in their fighting. Even though Oliver's movements were as fluid as ever, even though he seemed completely focused on his opponents, Felicity still saw the tick of his jaw, the glassiness of his eyes, the small frown between the eyebrows. They didn’t seem to disappear these days.

With one last glance to him, she stood up and grabbed her coat, catching Sara’s eyes on the way out.

‘Where are you going?’, she asked, even though she didn’t stop her attempts to hit Digg.

‘I just remembered I have to do something. I’ll be back soon.’

‘Felicity, what-‘, Oliver said, but she interrupted him.

‘I’ll be right back, Oliver. I’ve got a comm on, just to be safe. Don’t close my computers, they’re working even though I’m not.’

She didn’t spare them a second glance, ignored their questions, and made her way outside, quickly turning around and making her way to the front door. She went in, and didn’t comment on the full body flinch Thea did.

‘What the hell are _you_ doing here?’, she spat, raising from her seat. That made Felicity flinch.

‘I know you don’t want to talk to me, but can I make you listen to me?’

‘Did Oliver send you?’, Thea seemed to be getting furious.

‘He has no idea I’m here. Probably wouldn’t have let me come, so…’

Thea seemed to think for a few seconds, moving her eyes up and down Felicity’s body. She tried not to flinch, but it was unsuccessful. She knew how she looked, it wasn’t the EA persona Thea was used to seeing. Felicity was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a bright yellow t-shirt, her favorite pink Converse and a matching jacket. Her hair was down and untreated, because she really didn’t feel like doing it in the morning. She had minimal makeup, just enough to cover her dark circles and exhaustion, but she didn’t give up her bright pink lipstick. She never did.

In the end, Thea sighed and sat back down on the barstool, facing her.

‘If I listen to you, will you leave me alone after that?’

Felicity smiled, just a bit. ‘Cross my heart and hope to die.’

When Thea nodded, she made her way towards the younger Queen and sat on the barstool next to her, taking off her jacket. Thea wasn’t looking at her, she was looking in the distance, eyes unfocused. She seemed small and her hands were in the pockets of Roy’s hoodie. If she was anything like her brother, her fists were probably clenched.

‘Look, Thea, you don’t know me. And I don’t know you. And I understand you don’t want to talk to Oliver or your mother right now, but-‘

‘What did he tell you?’, Thea turned to look at her, with a new kind of fire in her eyes.

‘He didn’t tell me anything’, Felicity said, softly. ‘I was the one who told him.’

Thea frowned, so Felicity quickly explained.

‘A few weeks before Walter was kidnapped, he came to me to help him with something. It’s a… complicated story and that doesn’t affect you in any way. But, as part of that research, I discovered an account your mother used in … questionable ways. And I kept track of it, so when after your mother decided to run for mayor, a big sum of money was delivered from that account to the doctor that delivered you… I put two and two together.’

‘Mr. Wilson said that my brother knew for years.’, Thea frowned.

‘He lied’, Felicity answered, easily. ‘I told him the day your mother announced her candidacy. I tried to get her to tell you both, but…’

‘You talked to her? About this?’, Thea’s eyes grew wide and disbelieving.

Felicity nodded. ‘She made it clear that she wouldn’t be saying anything. And she assumed some things and thought I wouldn’t tell Oliver, either.’

‘But you did.’

‘Yeah, I did’, Felicity sighed, looking down.

‘This doesn’t change anything’, Thea said after a few moments of silence, turning her head around and not looking at Felicity anymore.

‘I suppose it doesn’t’, she agreed. ‘I’m not done, though.’

‘Then go on’, Thea rolled her eyes. ‘The sooner you start, the sooner you leave me alone.’

Felicity took a deep breath and turned around in her seat, facing the bar. She picked up a straw and started fidgeting with it. When she spoke, she tried to make her voice as strong as possible, for her sake as well as Thea’s. But Felicity couldn’t look at her.

‘Contrary to popular belief, I’m not just some stupid blonde EA who got her job by screwing the billionaire CEO. I’m sure you already know this, but what you don’t know is that Oliver is my closest friend right now and that I helped him as much as he helped me. I know you don’t want to talk to him, I understand why you don’t. I’ll try to … be there for him and calm him down from my end, I’ll try to make him give you some space, because I know you need it. This isn’t an easy thing to go through.’

‘Ya think?’, Thea spat out, sarcastically.

Felicity ignored the outburst, taking another deep breath and continuing.

‘I am going to tell you something. It’s private, and years ago I made sure it was as hidden as possible. Uh… I don’t think I’ve told this story to anybody in years, but I think you… need a stranger to put things in perspective.’

When Thea didn’t say anything, Felicity turned towards her, briefly, and saw she was looking at her with her eyes narrowed and suspicion clear all over her face.

Felicity looked down at her hands, which were still mindlessly playing with the straw.

 ‘My mother was sick. She was sick for most of her life, but when I was 6 the doctors figured it out. It was a form of paranoid dementia, that evolved slowly. By the time I was 8, my father couldn’t take it anymore, so he left. He left her, and he left me. With her.’

Felicity frowned. ‘Fast forward two years, we found out he died. When the police came to notify my mother, they saw how…’, she cleared her throat, ‘how wrong she was. Child Services took me away and institutionalized her.’

‘My father had a lot of money, apparently. And his life insurance was quite big, too. So, uh. I didn’t have anybody else besides them, no family, however distant. So the city put a part of that money into my mother’s care, and set up an account on my name, which I would be able to access when I was 18.’

‘I didn’t move around, in foster care. I stayed in one place, with a couple who didn’t really do nothing else except take care of children like me. Most of them stayed in the house for a couple of months, a year tops, until they got properly adopted. But nobody wanted to adopt a little girl obsessed with computers, with a still alive mother and a quite alarming medical history of mental diseases.’

‘I’m not going to whine about how that was, because it wasn’t bad. It was good for me, I was able to focus on school. So. When I turned 18, I got into MIT and Queen Consolidated hired be right after I graduated.’

‘My mother is still alive. She’s still in a mental ward. On a good day, she tries to kill herself only twice. On a bad day, she remembers who I am and blames me for my father’s disappearance.’

When Felicity fell quiet, she heard Thea take a deep breath.

‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘Not because I think my story is worse than yours.’, Felicity nodded. ‘Or because yours is worse than mine. No, that really does not matter. But’, she turned and looked at Thea, who was watching her with a look she didn’t understand, ‘look at me right now.’

‘Yes, I may be taking trips outside of the city once a month to see a mother who hates me when she knows who I am. Yes, I may be out of a job at the moment, but I could easily go work for any company in the world, including Microsoft, at which I have a standing invitation. Yes, I may be small and soft and breakable and I need the Arrow to save me every now and then. And yes, I may cry a lot when I see people around me get hurt. Yes, I may be addicted to your brother because he takes care of me and makes me feel safe.’, Felicity let out a long breath and tried to control the tears that were threatening to fall.

‘But … My parents do not define me. What I went through, yes, it changed me. And it matured me way ahead of time. And it was hard, and it hurt and it still does. But I am strong. Yeah, I can’t fight with my fists or shoot a gun, but I am strong, mentally and emotionally. Everything I went through had taught me something, and shaped me as I am today.’

‘That’s what you need to understand, Thea. That’s what’s going to save you right now. Because you feel lost, and alone, and you don’t know what you’re going to do next. You need to understand that you’re a strong woman, who shouldn’t have to be put through this. But, unfortunately, you can’t change the past. You just have to deal with it and make something good out of it.’

Thea was silent for a long time, and Felicity let her. She didn’t leave, though. She stayed there, close to her, looking down at her hands, playing with the black straw.

‘I don’t see any good in this, in any of this’, Thea said, finally.

‘I know’, Felicity said, softly, getting up from her chair and putting a hand on her shoulder. ‘But believe me when I tell you there is nothing and nobody Oliver loves more in the world than you. Everything he did, everything he ever did, he did it to protect you. And he’ll still do it, whether you forgive him or not. Moira loves you too, even though she makes the worst decisions in the world. You’ll always have an ally in Walter, that man loves to you pieces.’, she smiled and took her hand away, taking a step back.

‘Nobody’s expecting you to be fine, Thea. Nobody’s expecting you to make a decision tomorrow and nobody’s expecting you to do this alone. I’ll do what I can, get Oliver to give you the space that you need, but remember that he’s still your big brother. This, everything that happened, it didn’t change that. You…’, she bit her lip.

‘You didn’t see him when you were kidnapped. He lost it. He absolutely lost it. If it wasn’t for Sara, and me and Digg, I honestly don’t know what he would’ve done. And that, Thea, that’s important. I just… hope you can see that.’

When Thea looked up, she was crying. Felicity wasn’t any better, she just had less makeup on.

‘Are you in love with my brother?’, Thea whispered.

Felicity blinked. Twice. Then, she scoffed.

‘No. I do love him, though. And I care about you, that’s why I took the liberty to come here today.’

‘I don’t know if I can do this.’, Thea said, a bit more loudly.

‘You can’, Felicity smiled. ‘And you will, I’m sure of it. It may have escaped your notice, but you Queens are as strong as a prison wall and so stubborn, it sometimes defies logic.’

‘I’m not fully a Queen, though, am I?’, Thea asked in a bitter tone.

‘Neah’, Felicity smiled. ‘Yeah, you are. Merlyn just gave you the dark hair. You’ll always be a Queen.’

After a few more seconds, Thea nodded and got off the chair, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve.

‘You should go, Felicity. I… Have work to do.’

‘Sure’, she agreed, already walking backwards. ‘Take care, okay?’

Thea nodded and started walking to her office.

A few minutes later, Felicity made her way down the Foundry stairs, only to find Sara, Digg and Oliver staring at her computers, with different distraught looks on their faces.

‘What happened?’, she panicked.

They all turned to look at her, in disbelief and shock. Oliver’s eyes were wet and he was breathing heavily.

‘What happened?’, she asked again, more softly.

‘You left your comm open’, Sara explained.

‘Oh crap.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver said softly and took a step towards her.

She raised a hand to stop him and shook her head.

‘No. We’re not discussing this. There are reasons I don’t talk about my family, and I’m okay with that status quo. While I am happy that you guys know now, it doesn’t… It was years ago, and I moved on from it a long time ago. So no, Oliver, this is not something we need to talk about. And I am not shutting you out, I just don’t have anything else to say on the matter. It’s not important anymore, not to me and it’s really the last thing you should care about right now.’

He looked torn, and he took another step forward, opening his mouth to say something, but Felicity didn’t let him.

‘What you need to do right now, is take a shower, put on some street clothes. Go talk to Moira, get her to stand down, to give Thea some time. Go to Starbucks, get a non fat iced mocha, and bring it back here to Thea. Tell her I talked to you, apologize and give her the space she needs. Then, you’re going to come back here and we’ll figure out what our next moves are, versus Slade and versus Isabel.’

They were all still staring at her, but Felicity only saw Oliver. He was biting his lower lip and breathing heavily though his nose, and his eyes held pain, but also disbelief. She knew he wanted to say a lot of things, but she also knew he wasn’t going to. Felicity knew them anyway.

After a few tense moments, Oliver took a final step forward and put a hand behind her head, cradling it so he could kiss her forehead. He stayed there, lips pressed on her skin for a few seconds too much, that had her closing her eyes and sighing.

After he was gone and Sara was in the shower, Diggle approached her and in an oddly comforting gesture, put a strand of her hair behind her ear.

‘You’re too good for him, you know that, right?’, he said, bluntly as ever.

Felicity just smiled and shook her head, going back to work.


	8. Triggers in the swimming pool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're in Tokyo, and they go swimming late in the night. It triggers an unexpected course of action in Oliver's mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I babbled too much at the beginning. Sorry? But, after that, awkwardness and crack comes out. Fun times.

It was over, everything was done and gone, it has been for a couple of months now. Slade was in ARGUS custody and even though he was gone from their lives, Team Arrow and its associates were still trying to put their life back together, after the aftermath.

Sara left right after, with a broken arm and bruised skin. She moved to Central City, to be close to her mother, but even though she came to visit Mr Lance often enough, and even though she came when they called for help, she was still far away and she was distant. Oliver seemed to be dealing with the fall of their relationship, he once told Felicity that the break-up wasn’t a surprise, he was expecting it. Felicity frowned, not understanding, and Oliver just shrugged and told her there was too much history there, and he should’ve learned his lesson with Laurel.

Oliver was also battling demons on the family front. He moved back into the mansion as soon as Slade was captured, being there for Thea, and letting her know he was willing to wait for her. It took a while, and it was a work in progress, but they were both working on fixing their relationship. Moira wasn’t really included in the plan, but she was there, and they were all civil. Roy still hasn't returned.

Oliver was better. Slowly, but surely, he was getting better. And Felicity and Diggle were there to see it. They spent a lot of time together, even more than before. They all had to deal with a lot of things in the aftermath of Slade, as a team and on personal levels too, but everything seemed easier if they were together. At least that’s what Felicity thought.

Things were better, the team was better, but not everything was good. After Slade’s capture, Oliver threatened the hell out of Isabel. Felicity was there, watching it all, with a proud smirk on her face and disgust in her eyes. Isabel had to choose, either she left and never returned to Starling or to Queen Consolidated, or she was going to die. Slowly and painfully, Felicity added, much to Oliver’s surprise. He didn’t correct her. So, of course, Isabel fled. She handed the company back to Oliver, and the last time Felicity checked, Rochev was in Russia.

But that didn’t mean they didn’t have a lot of work to do for QC. In the past months, Oliver did his best to bring the company back to what it was before Rochev snatched it. Even though she was CEO just for a couple of weeks, she did a lot of changes that Oliver didn’t agree with. The investors were weary and the board of directors was perpetually confused, but Oliver did it, with the help of Felicity and his mother, and Queen Consolidated was back on track.

That didn’t mean there wasn’t any work to be done. If the events of the past taught Oliver anything, it was how to be paranoid. So now, Oliver was touring the world, visiting the most important Queen Consolidated subsidiaries. Of course, Felicity joined him more often than not. And Diggle joined them too, every now and then.

That’s what got them into this situation.

✿

They were in Tokyo, visiting the QC offices there. They’ve been in town for a couple of hours, and all they did was check in to the pretty impressive apartment at the best hotel in town, and meet the people who they were going to discuss the company with in the morning. After they got back to the hotel, Diggle went to sleep, while Oliver and Felicity ran over the reports and their notes one more time.

By the time they were done, it was two am, they were both barefoot, Oliver was stretching on the couch next to Felicity, who was reading the Starling City news feed, like she usually did before bed.

When she was done, she got off the couch and picked up her shoes from under the coffee table.

‘I’m gonna go for a swim’, Felicity told Oliver, just as she heard him pop his neck. ‘You should get some rest, big day tomorrow.’

‘There’s a pool?’, he frowned.

‘Yes, Oliver, there’s a pool. I told you like five times, there’s a pool.’

He frowned some more. ‘I haven’t brought a swimming suit.’

Felicity sighed. ‘Yes you did, I asked Raisa to do it for you, because I knew you were going to forget. But I also know you hate swimming, and I really don’t need a 24/7 bodyguard, I won’t even be leaving the hotel, so it’s fine. Go to bed.’

‘But I want to swim’, he said around a smile, getting up from the couch and following her down the hall, where their bedroom doors faced each other.

‘You hate swimming.’, Felicity insisted.

‘No, I hated swimming when I was younger, because I was doing it wrong. And even though I prefer the gym, I’m kinda stiff, having spent 12 hours on a plane. Some swimming will do me good.’

‘Fine’, Felicity sighed. ‘Let’s change.’

✿

They both wore the bathrobes the hotel put at their disposal, and they were silent during the elevator ride to the pool, Felicity playing with the strings of her goggles.

There were different locker rooms and showers for men and women, so by the time Oliver made it to the edge of the pool, Felicity had already discarded her bathrobe, put on her cap and was struggling with her goggles.

Oliver didn’t see her at first, he was looking down as he was waking. When he lifted his eyes and saw her, Felicity flushed as she saw him rank his eyes over her body. She tried to ignore it, but she was feeling extremely exposed, in her dark purple one-piece suit.

‘You’re ridiculous’, was what Oliver said when he reached her, getting out of his bathing robe, revealing a simple black pair of swimming shorts.

When Felicity took her eyes off his chest, she scoffed.

‘The first time you see me in a bathing suit, and that’s what you have to say?’

Oliver blinked. ‘I meant the cap.’

‘Yeah, well. Condom-face isn’t attractive on anyone.’

He choked on a laugh, his eyes growing wide. ‘You do know those things won’t actually keep your hair dry.’

‘Of course, that’s not their purpose.’, Felicity rolled her eyes, putting her goggles on. ‘They’re supposed to keep hair from getting in the filter system.’

‘Right’, Oliver nodded, coming to stand by her side at the edge of the pool.

‘Wanna race?’, he grinned.

‘Nope’, she grinned back. ‘I might beat you and I’m not sure your ego could take it.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow, but Felicity just shrugged. With that, she jumped in the pool and started swimming.

✿

He didn’t follow her immediately. She saw him jump in the pool after she already did two laps, one bras and one crawl. They swam for another 6, on different lanes but side by side. Felicity wasn’t pushing for speed, she swam at a comfortable pace, and Oliver was keeping up with her.

When she stopped for a break, he was right behind her.

‘You’re good’, he said, panting slightly, crossing his arms over the line delimitation, resting his chin on them, looking at Felicity with a small smile.

‘I was on the swimming team since grade school, all the way through college.’

‘I didn’t know that’, he frowned.

‘There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.’, Felicity smirked.

‘Huh’, Oliver tilted his head. He didn’t say anything, but he was looking intently at Felicity. Then, he smiled.

Felicity smiled back and resumed her swimming. They didn’t talk anymore that night.

✿

Felicity was the first one to wake up in the morning. She put on a cardigan over her pink tank top and SpongeBob pajama pants, making her way towards the living room, surprised to see that Oliver and Diggle weren’t awake yet. She still ordered breakfast, they were going to wake up soon enough.

She was munching on a piece of toast, a cup of hot coffee in her other hand, when Oliver came out of his bedroom. He was shirtless, wearing just a pair of dark grey sweatpants. His hair was a mess, he was rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hands, he was pouting and he stumbled slightly until he reached the table.

He groaned when he sat down on the chair next to her, blindingly reaching for a cup of coffee. He took a few long drags of it, then put the cup down and turned towards Felicity.

‘Good morning’, he said, and his still sleepy tone made Felicity’s stomach turn.

‘Is it?’, she asked, trying to keep from laughing. ‘You look a little grumpy.’

‘I was tired’, he pouted.

‘Oh?’, Felicity grin. ‘What, did I tire you out last night?’

‘What did you do last night?’, Diggle voice came through, an alarmed tone in it. He made his way towards the table, sitting down in front of Felicity, raising an eyebrow at the blush she was currently supporting.

‘Swimming’, Oliver said. ‘Speaking of, did you know Felicity was on the swim team for most of her academic career?’

Diggle frowned. ‘No?’

Oliver hummed, looking over towards her. She didn’t say anything, but she was watching him curiously.

He turned around towards Diggle once again.

‘What’s her favorite color?’

‘Pink?’, Diggle frowned.

‘Purple, actually’, Felicity said.

‘What’s her favorite movie’, Oliver asked, keeping his eyes on Diggle.

‘I don’t think I know.’

‘What size shoes does she wear?’

‘I definitely don’t know that.’, Diggle raised his hands in mock surrender.

‘What’s this about?’, Felicity asked.

Oliver turned towards her and absently put a hand on her knee.

‘Diggle doesn’t know things either.’

Felicity blinked, until the conversation from last night came back to her.

‘So what’, she smiled. ‘You wanna play 20 questions?’

‘No’, he smirked. ‘But I want to know more about you, you’re important.’

There was a pause. ‘And Diggle. We’re already very close, but we don’t know important things about each other. And I think we should change that.’

When Felicity was silent, watching Oliver with wide eyes, Diggle cleared his throat.

‘Does this mean you’ll tell us things about the island? Before they become relevant to our apocalypse of the week?’

Oliver nodded, but he didn’t take his eyes off Felicity. When she finally spoke, she was already blushing before she finished the sentence.

‘I already know what type of underwear you like, what’s more important than that?’

Diggle choked on his coffee, and Oliver’s grip on her knee tightened. After a few beats, he smiled and leaned a bit closer to her.

‘But I don’t know that about you.’

Felicity glared, even though she was blushing furiously.

‘Mister Queen, that would be a highly inappropriate thing to know about your PA.’

Oliver finally took his hand off her knee, and backed away with a highly amused smile on his face. He didn’t say anything, looking down and spreading butter on a piece of toast.

‘For future reference’, Diggle said seriously, ‘I only wear black boxer briefs.’

There was a pause.

‘I pretty much have simple, cotton things in all the colors of the rainbow. And a few lacy things for formal ware.’, Felicity nodded, picking up a pastry.

‘Thea got me red satin briefs for Christmas', Oliver said, casually.

Felicity spilled coffee on her shirt.

✿

While they waited for Oliver to finish talking with Thea later in the morning, Diggle sat next to Felicity on the couch, playfully bumping her shoulder.

‘You two should go swimming more often.’, he said, knowingly.

Felicity nodded. ‘I wasn’t expecting this, though.’

Diggle hummed. ‘I would expect more than this from now on, if I were you.’

‘More?’

‘Carly used to call me and her a slow burn. Apparently, it’s a term used in fiction, when two characters-‘

‘I know what it means’, Felicity interrupted, rolling her eyes. ‘And I know what you’re saying, but I don’t think that… It’s still not a good time.’, she said, more softly.

‘As I said’, Diggle grinned. ‘Slow burn.’

‘What’s burning?’, Oliver said with a frown on his face, coming to stand in front of the couch.

Felicity burst out laughing, quite hysterically, while Diggle got up and put a hand on Oliver’s shoulder.

‘You’ll find out. Sooner rather than later, I think.’ Then, he walked out of the hotel room, saying he’s going to bring the car around.

‘What was that about?’, Oliver frowned down at Felicity.

She got up the couch, took a step towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hand instantly came to rest on her hips, and he was holding on as tight as she was.

When Felicity stepped back, a few seconds later, she smiled up at him.

‘My favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz, but the Lord of the Rings trilogy is a close second.’

Oliver looked even more confused, but she didn’t say anything more, picking up her purse and walking out of the room. He held the door open for her, keeping his hand on her back until they reached the car.


	9. Oliver's adventures with Felicity's makeup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five times Oliver sees Felicity put on makeup, and one time he sees her take it off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me dirrect you to this [page](http://onscreenstyle.com/2013/02/arrow-beauty-felicity-smoak-emily/), showcasing Felicity's lip color. Or [this](http://onscreenstyle.com/2013/02/arrow-beauty-felicity-smoak-makeup/) one, showcasing her makeup.

 

The first time Oliver actively sees Felicity putting on makeup, they’re leaving QC, heading together for the Foundry because her car is in service. She comes into his office and gives him a 10 minutes heads up.

She’s smiling and talking in that soft voice he’s grown accustomed to hear in his office, when it’s just the two of them. Even though she’s wearing a perfectly fitted dark red dress, and heals so high and thin they could probably puncture a lung, she still manages to make him relax, just by her presence and with a few words.

‘Okay’, he smiles back at her, trying to ignore the way his heart fluttered a bit at that realization. ‘I have to send a few more emails, but I’ll be done in 10.’

Weirdly enough, he’s done with them in 5 minutes. He spends the next 5 staring intently at Felicity. Oliver doesn’t even know what drew his attention to her in the first place, but once his eyes fell on her, he couldn’t look away.

Felicity was wearing headphones, gently moving her head and upper body with the beat of the song, probably. She was holding what had to be a pocket mirror in front of her face, it was a matte black with an _F_ in the middle, a very cursive and girly font, that shone bright gold.

She was applying makeup, Oliver realized. Why Felicity felt the need to wear makeup in the foundry, he didn’t understand. But it was something normal, something he got used to seeing. Felicity looked naked without a bright color on her lips, and as weird as that sounds, he and Digg both acknowledged this as a fact.

Felicity first used her fingers to put something on her cheeks, blush – Oliver’s mind supplied. The packaging was a pale pink compact, and it disappeared from his line of view quickly enough.

After that, she opened a jar of what Oliver supposed was powder, considering she applied it everywhere on her face, using a big, puffy brush. The bristles were pink and it didn’t really have a handle. Oliver found himself smiling when he saw that she closed her eyes ever so often, but didn’t put the mirror down.

Once she was done with that, she quickly applied a layer of lipstick, even though Oliver knew her lips were as bright and purple as they were in the morning.

When she was done, with one last look to the mirror, she closed it and quickly shoved it in a bright sparkly purple makeup bag. The other products quickly followed, and the makeup bag was thrown in her bigger work bag, along with her phone and tablet.

Oliver quickly grabbed his coat and made his way towards her desk, getting there in time to help Felicity into hers.

‘Thank you’, she grinned at him. ‘Digg’s waiting just outside.’

Oliver nodded and guided her towards the elevator. Once they were inside, he couldn’t keep himself from asking:

‘Isn’t your bag too heavy?’

Felicity snorted. ‘Of course it is.’

He frowned and extended his hand in a beat.

‘No’, she said, in a fairly condescending, but amused voice. ‘You know how you prove yourself to be a man by doing 200 pushups in one go and following those with a couple of runs on the salmon ladder?’

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

‘We women’, she snickered, ‘prove we are women by having pms and carrying heavy bags. The heavier, the better.’

After a beat, Oliver shook his head, walking out of the elevator.

‘I would insist on helping you carry it, but I have a feeling it would end up with yet another long discussion on feminism.’

‘And when you say discussion’, Felicity laughs, ‘you actually mean hearing me yell in my loud voice for half an hour.’

Oliver hummed, but he was smiling.

‘You would be right’, Felicity winked. ‘Now let me carry my own damn bag and open the car door for me.’

She said that just as they reached Diggle, who gave them a weird look, but immediately took a step back, letting Oliver open the door for her.

(◕‿◕)

The second time Oliver sees Felicity putting on makeup, they’re at a Foundry with Roy and Diggle, and it’s a show.

Oliver has been invited to an important fund raiser, who will be filled with QC investors. He has to go, and he will bring Felicity as his date, as well as his EA. They decided to get ready at the Foundry, both of them having things to do there before leaving for the night, mostly cleanup and updates.

He’s fixing a big batch of Arrows, sitting at a table with Roy at his side, doing the same thing. Diggle is cleaning and organizing his weapons, moving around the space. Felicity is working on her computers, but the Foundry is filled with music coming from them, a radio station that seems to play mostly jazz and chill music. They don’t usually do this, but none of them complained of Felicity’s decision. It’s a slow day, one might even call it lazy. There’s no big threat and it’s basically inventory day for Team Arrow.

They still have more than two hours until they are supposed to leave, but Felicity silently gets up from her chair and makes her way towards the bag she came with, not stopping the music. She gets out her makeup bag, bigger than the purple one Oliver knows she carries around daily, and a big two-sided mirror. She still doesn’t say anything, dragging her chair to the only remaining table, the one they keep near to the heavy duty medical equipment, which happens to be right in front of Oliver and Roy’s work table.

Felicity gets out a lamp that Digg usually uses to get a better view on the wounds that need stitching, turns it on and puts in on the table, behind the mirror, the light casting a hard white light on her face. She starts taking out makeup and brushes and setting them around the table, and it all seems very methodical.

‘You do know you still have two hours, right?’, Roy says sarcastically, startling Oliver.

‘It’s a ritual’, is all Felicity says, sitting straighter and getting to work.

She starts by putting three different products on her face, the latter being foundation, which she applies with a pink sponge. Then, she works on her eyebrows, first with a pencil and then with something that looks like mascara to Oliver. She applies two different cream products to her eyelids, one the same color as her skin tone, and the second a sparkly cream color.

Felicity pulls opens a bright pink package, revealing it filled with equally pink brushes. She opens an eyeshadow palette, metallic looking, a weird rose-gold color, and spends half an hour working on her eyes. She uses five or six shades and more brushes than that, the color fading darker in the outer corner, creating a light brown smoky eye, fairly subtle but still visible. Because of the warm colors used, it brought out the color of her eyes.

Oliver didn’t stare. He just spared glances towards her, making sure to not get caught, by her or by his other team mates. He found himself smiling, though, at the impossibility of the scene: they’re in an underground secret location, filled with equipment worth millions of dollars, three men working on arrows and guns, and Felicity. Contently listening to her jazz music, a flash of bright red because of the sweater she’s wearing, doing something so domestic as putting on her makeup, surrounded by medical equipment and deadly weapons.

Diggle was as stealthy as he was, occasionally throwing a look towards Felicity. Roy, though, he was staring. He gave up pretenses of working on the arrows a while ago, and he was full on staring, unbashfully, at Felicity, a slightly shocked and very confused look on his face. Oliver thought of saying something to him, but he decided not to, not wanting to make Felicity more uncomfortable than she must already be.

Felicity was now lining her eyes with a white eyeliner, tugging on the skin below her eyes and, from Oliver’s point of view, it looked like she was poking her eyeball. Roy made a weird noise, somewhere between a yelp and a squee, but thankfully, it wasn’t loud, so Felicity didn’t seem to hear it.

As she put the eyeliner away, Felicity blinked a couple of times, and Oliver flinched, thinking the application wasn’t such an enjoyable experience. Then, she put on a lot of mascara, making a funny face in the mirror when she worked on her lower lashes. Oliver smiled, he couldn’t help it. When he looked away, his eyes caught Diggle’s, who was smiling as well.

 Now, Felicity was putting on glue on a pair of false eyelashes, using the back of a brush and a pair of tweezers. While she waited for the glue to dry, waving the eyelashes around, she raised an eyebrow, without looking at Roy, speaking in the deadpan tone Oliver was too accustomed too.

‘Roy, close your mouth, you’ll catch a fly.’

She starts putting on the eyelashes, tilting her head back and getting closer to the mirror, ignoring Roy’s attempts at apologies.

‘Have you never seen a woman put on markup before?’, she asks, sounding curious.

‘No’, Roy says, sounding slightly annoyed. But it doesn’t count for much, Oliver thinks, considering he’s still staring.

There’s a beat of silence, in which Felicity just looks at the young man.

‘Well’, she eventually says, a weird glint in her eyes, ‘I guess I’ll have to speak to Thea, then, she hasn’t been training you properly.’

She pics up her mascara again and puts another coat on, all the while chuckling at Roy’s antics.

‘That’s not a thing’, he hisses.

‘Oh it is. It’s a total rite of passage into manlyhood.’, she says, picking up a gold thing that looks like a pen, putting on what looks like a lighter color of foundation, under her eyes and on her nose and forehead.

‘No’, Roy groans, shaking his head. By this point, Oliver has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, and Diggle has stopped doing anything, leaning against a table and watching the interaction with an amused smile.

‘Yes’, Felicity grins, running a small brush over the areas she put the foundation on. ‘Yes it is. Obviously. Just ask them.’, she waves her free hand around.

‘What?’, Digg beats him to the question.

‘Oh come on’, she rolls her eyes, picking up a big angled brush and a small square box. ‘You’re clearly used to this, considering you have gotten to the point where you don’t really care about it anymore, as long as I don’t get hurt.’, Felicity explains, running the brush along her forehead and jaw. ‘And Oliver has been mentally cataloguing all the products I’ve used since I started.’

He opens his mouth to deny everything, but it’s pointless, Felicity saw right through him. Eventually, he sighs and looks towards Roy.

‘Thea did train me well.’

When Roy stares at him, he shrugs and looks back to Felicity, who was now making another weird face. She was sucking her cheekbones in, like he and Tommy did when they were kids at the seaside, pretending to be fish. She runs her brush into the hollows of her cheeks. Then, she picks up her blush, putting it on with another brush. Oliver smiles, because Felicity smiles when she applies it.

Another brush is used for powdering her whole face, and another compact with a smaller brush to apply something in the corners of her eyes, under the eyebrows, on the top of the cheeks and above her lips.

‘It’s a ritual, you know’, Felicity says after, gathering up her makeup and putting it back in the bag, smiling fleetly at Roy. ‘Women enjoy wearing makeup, and some of us enjoy putting it us. It makes us feel pretty and for me, personally, it helps me get through an exhausting night of corporate people.’

‘How so?’, Oliver finds himself asking.

Felicity shrugs. ‘I don’t know, actually putting the makeup on and taking a lot more time to do so than I usually do calms me down. And, you know, knowing that I do it as close to perfection as I can makes me feel good, because I won’t hear other women criticizing it.’

‘Girl!’, Diggle interacts, with feeling, startling Oliver into silence. ‘What have we discussed about self loathing and about your trust in yourself?’

‘I know, I know’, Felicity laughs, even though Oliver can see her blush a bit, even with all the makeup she has on. ‘I’m just saying it as it is. All women are very judgmental, but rich ones even more so.’

‘If it makes you feel any better’, Oliver says softly, ‘so are rich men. Once, I made the mistake of wearing a suit that was for a past collection. 10 different men pointed it out. Thea laughed at me the whole night, and I am not allowed to pick a suit without her consent for any very important event.’

‘Sounds about right’, Felicity laughed, while Roy groaned.

But then, things started to get difficult, because Felicity started doing her lips. She put all her makeup away, only leaving on the table the gold pen she used earlier, a pencil and a lipstick.

She first put on a layer of the foundation, working it into the lips with her finger. Then, she started lining them with a dark purple lip pencil. And Oliver couldn’t look away.

Because as much as he liked the way Felicity looked, as much as he thought she was a beautiful, attractive woman, he really never once thought of Felicity like this. With her lips parted wide, wet tongue peaking out every now and then. It wasn’t the first time he thought of Felicity in a sexual matter. It happened more often than he’s comfortable with, imagining her naked, sprawled out in his bed, her hands running over his chest and nails digging on his back. He thought of sinking his teeth in her neck, leaving a bruise there, hearing her scream his name. But it was never this vivid, or this intense. Oliver couldn’t help but imagine Felicity on her knees between his legs, her purple lips tasting him, her red nails on his thigh.

Roy stomped on his foot. Hard. Thankfully, Oliver didn’t flinch, so Felicity didn’t notice. He turned slowly towards the younger man, who raised a very judgmental eyebrow. Oliver closed his mouth and swallowed, then went back to dealing with his arrow.

He still saw Felicity filling her whole lips with the liner and putting three layers of a lilac lipstick, lighting up the color of her lips. She plotted them between each layer with a tissue, and when she was done, she looked in the mirror one last time, a small smile appearing on her lips.

Digg passed her at that moment, shaking his head and telling her she looks beautiful even without all that crap.

‘Oh, I know.’, Felicity grinned. ‘But now I also feel beautiful.’

She put away her makeup, returning to the table with a brush, several hair clips and ties, three different hair products and a straightener, plucking it into the same socket as the defibrillator.

‘Are you serious right now?’, Roy groaned.

Felicity winked, letting her hair down from the pony tail she had it on, and started to brush through it.

‘I’m gonna shoot some arrows to feel manly again.’, the boy grumbled, getting up from the table and heading towards his bow.

Oliver snorted.

45 minutes later, Felicity came out of the bathroom in a black strapless dress, that didn’t really touch the ground, revealing a pair of red pumps that matched her nail polish perfectly. Her hair was up in a ponytail, but the ends of it were curled and braided. She had a black clutch and her neckline was accentuated by a simple gold necklace, with a small pendant shaped as a cat.

Oliver wasn’t the only one staring. Roy and Diggle were speechless too.

Felicity looked wide eyed at them first, but then she grinned.

‘And that, my boys, is why women take two hours to get ready.’

Roy just raised his hands in exasperation, while Oliver made a note to not let the night pass without telling her how stunning she looks.

(◕‿◕)

How Oliver got conned into coming to Verdant on Halloween, he still wasn’t sure. All that he knew was that Thea put a lot of work into this event, and that it was for some important charity. So when Felicity remotely shut down his computer at the office, and violently pointed to the suit and mask she brought in for him earlier, Oliver sighed and obeyed.

He wore a simple black tux and Felicity found him a mask that was almost wearable, it only covered his eyes and it was dark red. ‘Green would have been too obvious’, she chuckled, making him roll his eyes.

Felicity was wearing a dark grey top, with a matching puffy skirt that stopped over her knees.  Her mask was gold, matching her shoes, and had feathers on.

They got to Verdant early, because Oliver was supposed to be there to help greet the guests. Felicity just got a glass of wine from the bar, when a frantic Thea came running toward them. She was wearing a dark teal dress, and her mask was painted on, blacks and silvers framing her eyes. Oliver took a step towards her, but she pushed him away, heading towards Felicity.

‘How good are you with makeup?’

Felicity blinked. ‘Did you ever look at me and think I was bad at it?’

‘No’, Thea frowned.

‘So I’m pretty acceptable, then’, Felicity smiled.

Thea then handed her a black makeup bag. ‘Roy is in my office, I am begging you do something to him.’

‘Excuse me?’, Felicity asked, but she took the bag.

‘He broke his mask and I would do it, but there was a mishap with the vodka that I have to fix.’

‘You want me to put makeup on Roy?’, Felicity frowned.

‘I am begging you.’, Thea pleaded.

Suddenly, Felicity smiled. ‘Oh, there’s no need. I’ll gladly do it. Can Oliver help you?’

‘No, no, it’s fixable, but I have to do it.’ She was already walking away. ‘Thank you!’

Oliver didn’t say anything, just silently followed Felicity to a very grumpy looking Roy.

But Felicity smiled at him, and tried to make it as easier for him as possible, telling him exactly what she was going to do and keeping it simple. She made him sit on Thea’s desk, and Felicity kept moving around his legs, making sure not to touch him more than necessary, Oliver noted.

It was the first time he saw Felicity putting on makeup on someone other than herself, but she still looked like she was a pro at it.

She started off by putting foundation from the same type of gold pencil she had, all over Roy’s eyelids and the area surrounding his eyes. Then, she quickly filled in his eyebrows with a black powder, making them extra thick and kind of ragged looking. She reached into her clutch and pulled out one of Oliver’s business card.

‘Why do you have that? Can’t he carry his own cards?’,  Roy scoffed.

‘Yes he can and yes he does’, Felicity shrugged. ‘But, more often than not, he’s not available to talk to everybody who wants to talk to him, so they come to me.’

‘So it’s an EA thing, not a Felicity thing.’, Roy frowned.

‘It’s a Felicity the EA thing, now stop moving and close your eyes.’

Using the same black shadow she used before, Felicity used a brush to messily apply it on Roy’s eyelids, in a fairly thin line, leaving a lot of room till the eyebrows. She then took the card and placed it over one of his eyebrows, at an angle. With the same brush, she ran the black over the edge of the card, focusing on creating a gradient on Roy’s skin. When she removed the card, it left behind a straight line.

Felicity repeated the process several times, creating angled lines that connected, all around Roy’s eyes. All the while, Oliver found himself staring at her fingers. How quickly they moved, with the amount of dexterity she usually had on her keyboards. He pictured her fingers intertwined with his, and it didn’t even surprise him anymore. It’s been weeks since the purple lipliner incident, and since then, Oliver found himself thinking about Felicity in new, different ways. Taking her to an expensive restaurant, or late at night to Big Belly Burgers. Taking her to the movies, and throwing his arm around her shoulders. Watching tv on her couch, her soft form fitted against it. Oliver kept fantasizing about dating Felicity, and the more he thought of it, the more he wanted it.

‘Done’, Felicity’s voice brought him back.

The lines Felicity created on Roy’s face looked like a very futuristic mask, and the strong eyebrows seemed to match his strong jaw line. Oliver was surprised to see how manly he looked, which was something he didn’t expect from a makeup carnival mask.

‘It matches your suit’, Oliver said. ‘And your face.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s high phrase coming from him.’

She reached into her clutch and pulled out the _F_ engraved pocket mirror. Roy stared at his expression for a couple of seconds, jaw dropped. Then, he started moving his eyebrows. It made Felicity laugh.

When Thea came in and saw him, she freezed. Then, she turned towards Felicity and hugged her.

‘You’re amazing.’

‘And you’re too nervous’, Felicity chuckled, putting a hand around the younger woman’s shoulders. ‘And ruining both our hairstyles so calm down. You have a party to attend.’

With that, they were out of the office, in a blur of heels and curled hair.

Roy came to Oliver, gently bumping his shoulder. ‘If they become friends, we’re doomed.’

Oliver thought of denying it, but in the end he followed Roy at an alert pace down to the club, making sure to keep Felicity away from Thea for most of the night.

(◕‿◕)

Oliver had no idea how he fell asleep on the couch in the Foundry. He remembered going on a mission the night before, retreating some information from a mobster’s house, and he remembered Felicity saying she’ll start going through the information right away.

Apparently Oliver decided to stay until she left, and fell asleep. Looking around, he saw Felicity on her chair, with her hands crossed on the table in front of her, and her head resting on them. She was snoring softly.

Oliver saw the computers were still running what appeared to be searches in the background, but they were going to be late for work. He got off the couch and started walking towards her, but before he could say anything, one of the computers beeped and woke her up.

She blinked sleepily a couple of times, but when she remembered where she was, she instantly put back her glasses and started checking the computers.

‘Leave it’, he said and his voice was a bit scratchy. ‘We have to go to work.’

‘What time is it? OH MY GOD.’, she screeched.

‘It’s okay. We have clothes here.’, Oliver smiled. ‘I’ll text Digg, tell him to bring us coffee and breakfast on his way.’

‘He might just hate us’, she smiled, getting up from the chair and stretching.

She was wearing a shirt, and she must have unbuttoned an extra button in her sleep, because Oliver got a pretty good view of her white bra. When he managed to move his eyes towards her face, he snorted.

‘There’s mascara on your forehead.’

Felicity blinked. ‘How the hell did it get there?’

‘How should I know? I was asleep.’

Felicity just shook her head and pointed towards the bathroom. ‘Go get dressed while I fix my face.’

When he got out of the bathroom, dressed in a fresh suit and hair still damp, he saw Felicity putting on mascara. She even had pink lipstick on, and the rest of her makeup looked just like it always does.

‘Did you…’, Oliver frowned. ‘I was in there for 15 minutes. Did you really put a full face of makeup in 15 minutes?’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘No, I just piled some on top of what I had. It’s good to know that it looks good, though.’

‘You always look good’, Oliver smiled. Felicity was looking at him oddly, so he continued. ‘But you should go and change. I know people think we’re sleeping together and you appearing with me in the morning, in yesterday’s clothes, would just feed the rumors.’

She was still looking at him oddly, and once Oliver realized what he said, he understood why. He didn’t say anything more, though, and blamed it all on the lack of caffeine in his system.

Felicity did so too, considering she said that she really needs some coffee, before grabbing her things and going to the bathroom.

When Diggle came to get them 10 minutes later, Felicity was still in the bathroom.

‘Is there anything I need to know?’, he asked Oliver with a raised eyebrow.

He shook his head. ‘The couch is oddly comfortable.’

At Digg’s glare, Oliver continued. ‘Felicity fell asleep on her chair, working. I think I fell asleep before that.’

Digg just sighed and handed him a cup of coffee.

(◕‿◕)

The door to the mansion rung, and Oliver made his way down the stairs, knowing it will be Felicity on the other side. He had organized a dinner for the board of directors, nothing extremely formal, but designed to pull them all out of the professional environment, and Felicity said she’d be there a bit early.

When Oliver opened the door and saw Felicity with blood pouring down her face and a bruise on the side of the neck, he saw red.

‘I’m okay’, she says before he gets to ask anything. But she doesn’t comment when Oliver pulls her to his chest, in fact, it seems like some of the tension leaves her body.

‘I stopped by the Foundry cause I forgot something I need tomorrow at work’, she mumbled, cheek pressed against his shirt, hands slowly coming up to rest on his lower back. She was talking fast and Oliver was glad, because it meant she was okay.

‘When I left, some douchebag thought it’ll be a good idea to try to steal my purse. He grabbed my neck and pushed me against a wall, so I kicked him in the crotch. He punched me, so I tripped him over and started running, straight into Officer’s Lance arms, who just happened to be patrolling.’

Oliver still didn’t manage to say anything, so he just tightened his grip on her.

‘I’m fine, Oliver.’, she sighed, grabbing a hold of his shirt. ‘It’s just a bruise and the cut isn’t even bleeding anymore. I just need some hot water and concealer.’

‘I am interrupting something?’, Thea’s voice came from somewhere behind Oliver, and he sighed after feeling Felicity tense in his arms and quickly getting her hands off of his back.

He let go of her and turned around towards Thea. When she saw Felicity, she yelped and quickly made her way to her side, practically pushing Oliver out of the way.

‘I’m fine, Thea’, Felicity smiled. ‘I just need a shirt to borrow? Please?’

Oliver’s little sister nodded and tilted her head. ‘I actually have the same shirt. Come on.’

As they reached the stairs, Thea turned around and raised an eyebrow at Oliver. ‘You should change too, there’s blood on your shirt.’

A couple of minutes later, Oliver was standing outside of Thea’s room, listening to the two women laughing. It made his heart skip a few beats, listening to Felicity laugh after what she went through, and realizing just how well the two most important women in his life get along.

That should shock him, that Felicity is as important as Thea. It really didn’t. It felt normal to Oliver. For the first time in a long while, he felt normal.

Thea came out of the room then, rolling her eyes at him. ‘Go right in, protective brother of mine. I have to go to work.’ She kissed his cheek and winked before leaving.

Felicity was in front of Thea’s vanity, covering the bruise on her neck. Oliver couldn’t see the cut on her brow anymore, and he was, yet again, amazed by her makeup skills.

‘Really, I’m fine, Oliver.’, she rolled her eyes once she saw him.

‘Okay’, he said, startling her slightly. He went over to the vanity, sitting down next to Felicity on the wide ottoman Thea had, facing the other way. But he didn’t take his eyes off her.

Felicity didn’t say anything for a few minutes, focusing on covering up her bruise. When she was done, even Oliver couldn’t see it, and he knew exactly where it was. Then, she turned a bit towards him, frowning.

‘I’m okay.’, she said softly, putting a hand on his arm.

‘You are.’, he nodded, putting his hand over hers. ‘You stood up for yourself, you fought back and kicked his ass.’

‘Yeah I did’, Felicity grinned. ‘So why do you look like the cat ate the canary?’

At the mention of Sara’s nickname, Oliver knew there was no turning back.

‘Do you know why I was with Sara?’

Felicity’s eyes grew wide, and she tried to take her hand away, but he didn’t let her.

‘Because you cared about her?’, she asked, confused.

‘Yes, I did. And I was with her after I told you I can’t be with someone I could care about. Why? Why did I do that?’, Oliver couldn’t really look at her, so he kept his eyes on their hands.

‘Because she could take care of herself.’, Felicity said, in a tone Oliver couldn’t read. So he looked up, and she was still looking at him uncertainly, but with a light in her eyes.

Oliver nodded.

‘So what?’, Felicity said. ‘I just proved I can take care of myself too?’

‘I knew you could a long time ago’, Oliver smiled, squeezing her hand. ‘I just… it took me a while to come to terms with it.’

Felicity opened her mouth to say something, but his mother’s voice came through the closed door.

‘Your guests are arriving. It’s rude for me to greet them alone.’

Oliver sighed, and let Felicity pull her hand away.

‘Come on.’, she said, getting up and straightening her skirt. ‘It’s just one night of fussy investors and your lying mother. We can handle this, easy peasy.’

Oliver felt himself smiling and he quickly followed her out of the room.

She kept a hand on his knee for most of the dinner. Every now and then, he’d take hold of it.  

(◕‿◕)

Two months later, Oliver was in his bed, in a pair of sweatpants he usually slept in. Felicity was in the other part of the room, wearing his boxers and one of his tshirts. Her feet were bare and her hair was down, falling in messy curls down her back. She was in front of the full body mirror, scrubbing her face with a makeup remover wipe that Oliver made sure to always have in his bathroom, since week one of their relationship.

When she came to bed, Felicity smiled as she snuggled close to Oliver, her head resting on his chest and his arms enveloping her.

‘You look good without makeup too, you know’, he said, softly.

‘I know’, she yawned. ‘But there’s no fun in that.’


	10. Smoak vs. Deathstroke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final encounter. Here it is. Spoiler alert: Felicity's a BAMF.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just happened. I don't even know.

They’ve lost the war. That’s what they’re all thinking. But Slade is talking so loudly, she can’t ever hear her thoughts.

They’re all in an abandoned warehouse, two stories high, she can see a balcony above her. But Felicity doesn’t know exactly where they are. Slade is standing in the middle of it, waving his sword animatedly, dressed in full Deathstroke gear. But he took his mask off.

He’s talking, yelling and seething, and he’s mad, so mad. He was perfectly calm before, no matter how violent his actions were. He kidnapped Felicity from her home, drove her to this warehouse, and put her on a chair, back against the wall. He tied her hands behind her back with a thick rope, but not before he took her shirt off.

Felicity is freezing. She’s got bruises on her neck and upper body, from where he hit her. Repeatedly. Her wrists hurt, she’s scraped both her knees when she fell down on her way here. Because Slade didn’t let her take off her heels.

She’s not crying, though. Felicity gives herself a pat on the back for achieving that.

Sara’s to her left, unconscious, but she’s still breathing. Diggle is close to her, he was shot in the stomach, but Felicity saw the bullet go through him. He’s conscious and applying pressure on the wound, but he’s sitting down and leaning against the wall.

Oliver is to her right, in the same position as Diggle. He’s fought Slade hand to hand, and even though Felicity can’t see blood on him, he can’t get up. He’s probably got a few bruised ribs, and maybe a broken leg. But nothing seems to be as bad as the look in his eyes. Oliver can’t take his eyes off Slade, and he looks so hurt by his words. Slade’s blaming Oliver, over and over again, for Shado’s death, and he’s just sitting there, taking it.

‘Stop it’, Felicity whispers, tears in her eyes. But she doesn’t let them fall, and Slade doesn’t hear her.

‘Stop talking to him!’, she says a little more forcefully, and that makes him stop.

Slade turns his head towards her, a shocked, yet fairly amused look in his eyes, but he doesn’t make a move.

She thinks Oliver says her name, but it’s too low.

‘You got something to say, Ms Smoak?’, Slade smirks, turning his body towards her, but still not moving forward.

Felicity takes a deep breath and gets off the chair. With a final twist of hands, she manages to finally get the rope off. She straightens up, rubs her wrists for a couple of seconds. She kicks off her shoes, and breathes a sigh of relief when her feet touch the ground.

She hates Slade. She’s never hated anybody in her life, not the guys who bullied her in highschool, not the villains who tried to kill her, not the ones who hurt her loved ones. But god, does she hurt Slade. When she finally looks at him, Felicity tries to channel that hate.

‘Do you enjoy hearing yourself talking?, because I am sick of your voice.’, she says.

Slade smirks. ‘Am I supposed to be impressed that you got out of the ropes?’

She shakes her head. ‘It’s going to take much more than that to impress you. Shall I begin?’

Slade looks at her for a long moment. Then, his eyes skip to Oliver for a fraction of a second, and when they land on her again, he seems angry.

‘Am I supposed to be afraid of you, Miss Smoak? Look around. You are _all_ beaten. You’re the only one standing, and you can’t touch me.’

Felicity laughs. ‘Yeah, you beat us real good.’

She takes a deep breath and speaks in a cold voice, once again. ‘You had a great plan, you know. Almost perfect. We would’ve ended up dead and gone, and you would have taken this city entirely. You only made one mistake.’

‘What mistake is that?’, he asks, taking a single step forward and letting his sword fall to the ground, with a loud sound that makes her ears ring.

‘You underestimated me.’, Felicity manages to say.

He seems to freeze at that. ‘And what makes you so special?’, he hisses.

Felicity shrugs. ‘I’m smarter than anyone gives me credit for and predisposed to ignoring orders.’

Diggle snorts at that, and she sends him a quick glare. She can’t look at Oliver, who is still dead silent. She just can’t.

‘Explain’, Slade demands.

‘Good thinking with carrying a signal scrambler with you. I saw you activate it when they came in. However, I have been working on a device that can bypass that. Small enough to not be seen, especially when placed in my bra. Thank you for not taking that off, by the way.’

‘You think someone is coming for you?’, Slade laughs. ‘Who, exactly? Because the Police can’t stop me. You know that.’

Felicity shakes her head. ‘You’ve been here for months. You got off that island for years and you’ve studied Oliver’s every move. And you still don’t see it. You’re still on that island, you still think it’s you versus Oliver, when it’s not. It’s not Deathstroke versus the Arrow because …’, she laughs, and wipes away a tear off her cheek, willing herself to not let anymore fall.

‘There’s a huge difference between you and Oliver right now. You’re alone.’

Slade narrows his eyes.

‘You’re so alone, and he is so not.’

‘Darling’, Slade says mockingly, ‘you may be Oliver’s friends, but you still won’t make it out of here.’

‘I’m not talking about us. Oliver has _friends_ ’, she hisses. ‘And The Arrow has friends.’

Felicity takes a deep breath and straightens her back, staring at Slade and speaking in a voice so cold, that it surprises even her.

‘You shouldn’t be afraid of heroes, Mr. Wilson’, she says, with a pointed look at Oliver. Who is staring at her so intently, it makes her knees go weak.

‘You should be afraid of their villains.’

Right on cue, she sees a laser dot appear in the center of Slade’s chest.

‘Bullets don’t hurt me.’, he laughs, taking a step forward and to the left. The laser moves with him.

‘Normal bullets don’t’, Felicity nods. ‘However, curare laced tranq bullets filled with several overdoses of Vertigo in its purest form… We don’t really know what that will do to you.’

‘Deadshot is a go’, she hears from the balcony above her.

Then, she sees Ben Turner appear from behind Slade, stepping around him and standing at his side, in a defensive stance. ‘Tiger is a go.’

Roy appears next, and he doesn’t stop at Slade, barely throws him a glance.

‘I need a nickname’, he pouts, taking off his red hoodie and handing it to Felicity.

She puts it on and zips it up.

‘What?’, Felicity hears Diggle wheeze out.

She looks at him and manages to smile. ‘I got Roy to call Lyla. I knew you were too stubborn to do it. And Amanda Waller wants Slade taken care of as much as we do.’

Felicity turns toward him, and sees that he has a very shocked expression on his face. He hides it well, but she can still see the fear in his eyes.

‘Argus has you now. Enjoy your stay in between the four walls you’ll grow very accustomed to.’, Felicity smirks. ‘Maybe they’ll let Isabel join you every now and then.’

With that, Turner quickly injects him with something in the neck, a very strong tranquilizer, Felicity thinks. Roy gets to his side just fast enough to catch Slade before he falls down.

‘Come on’, Turner says to Roy. ‘We’ve got a secure van waiting outside.’

After they leave the room, Felicity hears something fall behind her, and the next second, there’s a hand on her shoulder and Lawton’s coming into her vision.

‘You okay there, blondie?’

‘We need an ambulance. Several ones’, she adds, looking around the room at her team. ‘Discreet ones, I’m sure Ms Waller has the resources.’

‘They’re already on their way’, he nods.

‘And don’t ever call me blondie again, Lawton.’

Deadshot smirks and bows his head before making his way towards Oliver, helping him up, just as Lyla and several emt’s come into the warehouse.

‘You’re insane’, Oliver yells, making the emt’s and Deadshot freeze in their attempts of taking care of his wounds.

Felicity sighs. ‘Thank me later. After we’ve all been patched up and after he’s locked away in a padded cell.’

Oliver’s looking at her with tears in his eyes. He has to support himself on Deadshot’s shoulder, who’s watching them with a curious frown, but Olvier is looking at her, only at her, and he seems so desperate and so hurt, it makes Felicity’s heart break.

‘Did you _let_ him kidnap you?’, he asks, realization in his eyes.

‘Yes. It was all under control.’

‘He could have hurt you’, he hisses.

‘Yeah, well’, she yells, finally walking towards him, ‘he could have killed you, all of you, and that would’ve killed me either way.’ Felicity takes a deep breath when she sees the shock in his eyes. He recovers quickly, and looks like he’s about to say something, but she takes a final last step and gently takes off his hood.’

‘There was no choice to make’, she says, managing to smile up at him. ‘Now let them take care of you. We can talk more, you can yell at me later, after you get painkillers and I take a shower.’

‘Waller wants a debrief, first.’, Deadshot smiles at Felicity. It’s a very weird sight.

She narrows her eyes. ‘There better be coffee.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver says, exasperated.

‘Just listen to your EA, Queen.’, she rolls her eyes. ‘She knows best.’

With that, Felicity walks away and heads toward the exit, but not before she hears Deadshot tell Oliver that ‘Blondie is scary. And feisty. I see what you keep her around.’ She also hears Oliver’s growl, and that makes her smile, just as Roy hands her a pair of flip-flops and hugs her quickly, to her surprise.


	11. I've got you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post 2x20. What happens after Felicity and Diggle find out what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just needed this out of my system. So I opened up the word document and started writing. 4.500 words later, this is angsty and chaotic and ohgod I'm not gonna survive this season finale, am I?

Felicity and Diggle were still in the Foundry, waiting for Oliver to return. They knew he would, and they also knew it will take a while, considering he needed to be with his family.

‘He’s safe’, Diggle told Felicity out of nowhere, two hours ago. ‘I’m not there because he’s got two other of my guys with him and his family. There’s also police everywhere, he’s fine.  Someone needs to keep an eye on you too, you know.’

She just sighed and didn’t bother responding; by this point, she knew resistance was futile. So Felicity went back to her computers, and Diggle went back to cleaning his guns. He’s been doing that a lot lately, Felicity thought it calmed him. She also did a lot of unnecessary maintenance checks and updates on the computers, because that calmed her a lot.

But, she still couldn’t shake the bad feeling she had in her chest. It was fear, and dread, and anger. And it was almost painful, but Felicity didn’t know why it was happening, and she didn’t know how to shake it off. So she ignored it, and kept praying for Oliver to come back safe.

So when her phone vibrated on the desk, and when she saw that it was Officer Lance calling her, calling _her_ , not calling her for the Arrow, Felicity had to grip the arm rest of her chair tight, tight, tighter.

‘Mr. Lance?’, she answered in a voice so small, she hated herself for not being able to at least sound more powerful.

‘Miss Smoak. I…’

‘Just tell me’, Felicity sighed, looking straight at John, who has moved until he was close to her, watching her with a worried expression, but with a determined stance. ‘Just tell me whatever happened’, she tried again. ‘Cut the crap, this is me you’re talking to. Please.’

‘Slade Wilson killed Moira Queen. And Thea and Oliver were there.’

Felicity stopped breathing. She looked up at Digg, and she realized he was asking her what happened, but she couldn’t answer.

So she screamed. She screamed until she gave her breath, until the scream ended in a broken sob. Her phone fell in her lap and when she quieted down, Diggle took it.

He told Lance who he was and demanded explanations, all the while keeping his hand on top of Felicity's, where she was still clutching the arm rest of her chair with all the strength she had.

When she heard Diggle ask Lance ‘Where?’, Felicity got up as fast as she could. She ignored John questioning expression, and headed to the shelves nearby her desk, where she kept a few sets of clothes.

She turned her back to Digg, even though she knew he was still able to see her. It really didn’t matter right now. So she took off her shoes first, then her dress. All the while she put on a black pair of jeans and a dark red sweater, she didn’t hear Diggle’s voice.

All she heard was her own voice in her head, calling for Oliver. Over and over and over again. She’s crying, but she doesn’t even have the power to wipe her face.

_Oliver, Oliver, oh god, Oliver, please, Oliver._

She knew this was going to kill him. Slade probably made him choose again. He probably begged him not to. He probably begged Slade to kill him instead. When Tommy died, Oliver ran. He had Thea then, and he still ran all the way to Lian Yu. Now, this was worse, this was his mother. And Oliver doesn’t have Thea. And he doesn’t have Sara anymore.

She turns around to face Diggle, pair of sneakers in her hand. ‘We’re not letting him run away again.’, Felicity says with as much strength as she could muster, startling Diggle who was watching her, but clearly paying attention to Lance.

‘He probably wants to kill Slade before running.’, Digg says after a beat.

Felicity has a second to panic, because it’s Lance on the phone, and he doesn’t know, not about Oliver, not about the Arrow and-

‘Laurel told her father.’, Digg tells her, a flash of  anger passing in his eyes. ‘After Slade told her.’

Felicity breathes out and bends down to put on her shoes. ‘That doesn’t matter right now. At all. Are we going?’

Diggle nods and tells Lance they’ll be there as fast as they could. He’s silent for a few seconds, giving Felicity a once over.

‘She’ll be fine enough.’, he tells Lance, smiling softly at her. ‘She’ll be strong for Oliver.’

Felicity starts crying again at the sound of his name. But she doesn’t stop to take a breath, she just grabs her phone and a small towel that she always keeps by her desk, quickly shutting down her computers, already making her way up the stairs by the time Diggle hangs up the phone.

The ride is mostly silent, none of them say anything after Digg quickly explained to her what happened. He’s driving fast, way above the speed limit, and Felicity’s still crying, wiping away at her face with the towel. They drive right pass the accident site, but the police officers wave them through and direct them further down the road.

Lance is waiting for them when they get out of the car, and he’s got his strong, police officer mask on, not letting any emotions pass through. But Laurel’s next to him, hunched down on herself and crying on her father’s shoulder. When he sees Felicity, he quickly makes his way towards her and puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.

‘You need to take a deep breath now, sweetheart.’

‘Where are they?’, she nods, absently aware of Digg putting  a hand on the back of her back.

‘Thea wouldn’t move. She’s … she doesn’t want to leave her.’

Felicity flinches. ‘She’s still with the body?’

‘The EMT’s didn’t want to sedate her yet’, Lance sighs. ‘Thought they’d let her calm down a bit.’

‘And Oliver?’

Lance’s eyes meet hers, and she absently realizes that he’s been crying too. ‘We were barely able to cut off the handcuffs. He’s not moving, not saying anything, but screaming and kicking at anybody who tries to get close.’

‘Anybody?’, Felicity’s eyes flicks to Laurel, who is looking at her with wide eyes.

‘He didn’t even let me touch Thea, let alone him.’, she sighs, wiping away a tear.

Felicity nods and straightens her back, pushing past Lance but making sure Diggle is following her. The first thing she sees is Thea, bent over her dead mother’s body, sobbing and clutching on to her coat. Her fingers are red. Oliver is to their side, kneeling, hands buried in the mud under him. There’s blood on his face, and Felicity know that his leg was damaged before this, and that he must be in great physical pain, but he doesn’t seem like he’s aware of it.

‘He looks like he’s not even there anymore’, Felicity whispers out loud, even though she didn’t mean too. But it’s true, Oliver looks … defeated. He’s crying and he’s breathing heavily, but he’s not moving, he’s just looking at Thea and Felicity has never seen him like this. There’s no anger in his eyes. There’s nothing but pain. It scares her.

‘What if we can’t bring him back?’, she turns around to look at Digg, and sees that he’s affected too. He may not be crying like she is, but there’s a lot of pain and anger in his eyes.

‘We have to.’, he hisses, grabbing her hand in one of his big ones, and Felicity realizes that she’s been shaking. Digg’s touch stopped it, so she lets out a long breath and uses the sleeve of her sweater to wipe away at her face.

Felicity takes a deep breath, heading towards the ambulances. She demands a syringe of mild sedatives for Thea, and the EMTs give it to her.

‘Miss Smoak’, one of them grabs her arm before she can move away.

‘How do you know my name?’, she takes her hand out of his hold.

‘Officer Lance told us. Look, you… I don’t think you’ll be able to get to him. He’s in shock, and I believe he’s showing signs of PTSD. He almost broke my arm. Take another syringe or he’ll hurt you too.’

‘No.’, Felicity shakes her head, turning her head and walking away without another word.

‘What do you want me to do?’, Diggle asks her.

‘I don’t know.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Anything’, she says, putting the sedatives in the back pocket of her jeans. ‘Don’t try getting to Oliver first’, she says when they’re only feet away. ‘And catch Thea.’

With that, Felicity marches forward the last few steps. She reaches Thea’s side, and puts a hand on her shoulder.

‘No’, Thea says between two sobs, clutching tighter to her mother’s body.

Felicity bends down and puts a hand around her shoulders. She hears a whine coming from Oliver, but when she looks at him, he’s not looking at her, he’s still looking right at Thea. So Felicity forces her other hand between Thea and the body. She holds her tight for a while, shaking in sync with the girls’ sobs.

They stay like that for a few minutes, and finally, Felicity feels Thea’s body losing its tightness.

‘You need to let go, Thea.’, Felicity says as softly as she can, speaking right near her ear. You’re bleeding and freezing. You’re in shock and you’re hurt. You need to let us take care of you.’

Thea doesn’t move.

‘If we take care of you’, Felicity tries again, pushing away some of Thea’s hair from her face, ‘then Oliver’s going to let us take care of him. And that’s what Ms. Queen would have wanted, she just wanted her kids to be safe.’

Thea screams at that, but she lets go of her mother’s body, and turns in Felicity’s arms, clutching to her. She holds on to her for a while, but Thea was shaking so hard her teeth were clenching. So Felicity quickly pulled the syringe out of her pocket and injected her in the leg. She didn’t let go, and Thea didn’t protest, her cries slowly silencing and her body turning limp. Then, Diggle was there, lifting her up and crying her towards the EMTs.

When she gets up from the ground and turns around to face Oliver, he’s still not looking at her. He’s staring at his mother’s body, and one of his hands moved from the ground, to his chest.

Felicity knows she’s crying. But it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters right now, nothing but Oliver. There’s no Slade, there’s no Sara or Laurel, there’s no Roy, there’s nothing. Nothing except Oliver. And her, and Diggle, who is slowly making his way back to them.  ‘They have to take the body’, Digg tells her.

She nods, taking a first step towards Oliver. ‘Wait until he’s not looking anymore.’

Slowly, but surely, Felicity made her way to his side. But Oliver didn't flinch, didn't even look at her, never taking his eyes off his mother. Felicity thought about touching him, putting a hand on his shoulder or wiping away his tears, but she knew that wouldn't go well.

And she can’t think properly, she can’t, all she can think about is the pain Oliver is in, and she can’t think long enough to figure out a way to take some of it away. So all Felicity has left is her instinct, and she gives in, lets it lead her.

Felicity falls to her knees in front of him. There’s half a step between them, and she doesn’t touch him, she just looks at him. And Oliver breathes in. A gasp of air, paired with a couple of tears falling down his cheek. Seeing her triggers him.

Oliver didn't say anything, just looked at her for a couple of seconds. But then, his breathing became even more labored, and his blank expression turned into one of pure despair. The hand he had on his chest fisted around the tie he was still wearing, pulling violently at it. He bent his body, just a little, so slow, trying to look past Felicity. But she already heard the body bag being opened, so with one last deep breath, she moved into action.

Felicity put her hands on his face, grabbing his cheeks and keeping his head from moving past her. He gasped.

‘No, Oliver’, she said as strongly as she could manage. ‘Look at me, keep looking at me.’

He does. And he gasps again. Oliver looks into her eyes, them down her face, tracing the tears she knows are there, and he starts crying even harder. Felicity keeps her hands on him, moving them to his neck, across his jaw, never taking her eyes of him.

He’s sobbing, and struggling for breath. And it breaks Felicity’s heard like never before.

‘Oh, Oliver’, she whispers, and she barely heard it, but he did, because he takes a deep breath and focuses on her eyes.

‘I can’t move’, he sobs, barely managing to breathe.

‘That’s okay’, she nods, wiping away his tears. ‘That’s okay, cause Digg and I… We’ve got you, okay? We’ve got you.’

Oliver seems to collapse more when she says that. His body sags forward, pressing his forehead onto her collarbone. She moves her hands, cradling his head with them, and slowly, so very slowly, Oliver fists his hands in the back of her sweater.

She holds onto him as tightly as he can, as Oliver starts screaming. She feels his every breath on the skin of her neck, and she feels his hands on her back. She feels his pulse at the tip of her fingers and she feels his tears and blood soaking her shirt.

‘You’re alive’, she starts whispering. ‘You’re alive and you’re here, and you can fight. Oliver, we’ll fight. You’re alive. You’re alive.’

He doesn’t say anything, so Felicity keeps talking, whispering things to him, she doesn’t even realize what she’s saying, most of the time. But some things are clearer than others, to her ears, brain and heart. Felicity tells Oliver that she loves him, that he’s not alone, not anymore, never again alone. That they’ll do anything to catch Slade, anything and everything. That he’ll pay for everything. She keeps telling him that he's alive, over and over again, while he tightens his grip on her.

Oliver quiets down after a while. Felicity has no idea how much time it lasts, but he’s not screaming anymore. Diggle makes his way towards them, then. He puts his hand on Oliver’s shoulder and Felicity feels Oliver sigh.

‘You need a hospital’, Diggle says, gently. ‘I know you don’t want to, but your body needs it.’

‘You need to be healthy for Thea’, Felicity adds gently.

‘Okay’, he says, barely audible. But he pushes away from Felicity’s hold, slowly, putting a hand on Diggle’s elbow. ‘Okay’, he says a bit more forcefully, nodding and looking from Digg to Felicity with big eyes.

They help Oliver to his feet, guiding him towards one of the ambulances. He’ leaning heavily on Diggle, but he didn’t let Felicity slip a hand around his waist. Instead, he’s holding onto her hand, squeezing every now and then, probably when he feels a spike of pain.

When they get to the ambulance, the EMTs sit him down and start taking off his suit jacket, but Felicity noticed that the one who talked to her when she arrived seemed to be in charge.

‘Oliver’, Felicity asks softly. ‘From what side did the car hit you?’

He frowns, looking down at his hands, but eventually he manages to answer.

‘Left. It hit us from the left.’

‘And were you sitting on that side?’, one of the EMTs asks.

‘Yes’.

‘Right’, Felicity sighs. ‘So that means his left ribs are probably cracked, if not broken. And his right knee was really bad even before the accident, he’s had… like a lot of lidocaine today.’

‘A lot?’, the EMT asks.

’One of those little injection bottles, 20mg, I think?’

The guy’s eyes grow wide, but he doesn’t say anything.

‘He’s not allergic to anything’, Felicity adds. ‘But he hates sedatives, they make him feel extra disoriented when he wakes up, so if you could use mild ones, that would be great. Also, call the hospital. Make sure Dr. Lamb arranges for Oliver and Thea to be in the same room.’

‘Where’s Thea?’, Oliver asks then, making an attempt to sit up. Felicity stops him with a hand on his shoulder, but before she gets to say anything, Laurel’s voice comes from behind her, making both Felicity and Oliver to turn to her.

‘She’s in the other ambulance, sedated. She’s not hurt, bruises and small cuts. I’ll go with her to the hospital.’

Oliver opens his mouth to say something, but no sound comes out. Felicity squeezes his shoulder and turns toward Laurel, noticing that she had stopped crying.

‘Thank you, Laurel’, she says. ‘I’ll ride with Oliver, meet you at the hospital. Meanwhile, Digg’, Felicity turns toward him. ‘We’re gonna need clothes. Go to the mansion, grab a change for both of them. Sweatpants and hoodies, something comfortable. Then, please go to the’, she pauses, throwing him a pointed look, ‘office, get me the red bag. And my tablet. I’m going to need my tablet.’

Then, Feilcity turns towards Laurel, once again.

‘You might want to call Sara’, she says as softly as she can.

‘Why?’, Laurel asks, eyes growing wide and fear flashing in them.

‘She left town a couple of hours ago’, Felicity explains.

‘She left me’, Oliver says, startling both women. But he’s not looking at them, he’s staring at the place where the iv needle was stuck in his arm. After a few seconds, he closes his eyes, and falls asleep, the EMT guiding his body to lie down on the bed.

Laurel looks with something resembling pity down at him, but then she blinks and her eyes grow big. She turns towards Felicity and Diggle, taking a deep breath, her eyes settling on the woman.

‘Slade told me Oliver’s secret. Do you know it too?’

Felicity sighs. and doesn't look at her, trying to avoid the question. Laurel surprises her, by putting a soft hand on her arm.

‘He told me how… How Oliver spends his nights. You… you help him, don’t you?’

Felicity shares a look with Diggle, but quickly turns around towards Laurel.

‘That’s not important right now. It’ll be important in the morning, when we’ll figure out what we can do to stop Slade. Once and for all.', she takes a deep breath, trying to get the anger out of her tone. 'But until then, Thea and Oliver are the most important, at least to me and Digg. And I would appreciate it if you’d respect that and drop the subject.’

Laurel nodded and took her hand away, turning around and heading towards the other ambulance.

For the next few hours, Felicity filled her time with talking to doctors and nurses, dodging paparazzi flashes, answering questions upon questions, drinking bad hospital coffee, keeping track of Moira’s body through the Police mainframe, dodging weird looks from Laurel and her father, trying to find Slade. When Diggle came back to the hospital, Thea and Oliver were both asleep, beds side by side in a large room.

After the Lance’s left, and the nurses left them alone, Felicity took a hot shower, furiously scrubbing away the blood she had on her hands, quickly dressing into the jeans and hoodie Digg brought for her. Then, she sat down next to him on the couch that was in the corner of the room, organizing Moira’s funeral in one tab, and searching for Slade in another.

Thea was the first to wake up. The first word that came out of her mouth was a broken whisper of ‘Ollie’. Felicity was her side in an instant, grabbing her hand and petting her hair.

‘He’s still asleep. He has a few cracker ribs and a damaged knee, but it’ll heal. Do you want some water?’

The girl nods and Felicity quickly hands her a plastic glass with a straw in it.

‘You were asleep for almost 5 hours’, Felicity explains to her. ‘The EMTs sedated you. You’re body’s fine, just a couple of bruises and cuts. Didn’t even need stitches.’

Thea nods and stands up in bed, crossing her legs in front of her and looking towards her brother.

‘And mom?’, she whispers, her voice cracking.

Felicity takes a seat next to her, gently touching her knee.

‘She’s already at the morgue. I shouldn’t really know that, but I hacked into the Police’s mainframe.’

Thea turns toward her, then, a startled expression on her face.

Felicity shrugs. ‘I also called the funeral home your family used in the last years and they’ll take her when the Police let them. Your mother already took care of everything, she had everything planned, but if you remember anything in particular, or if you want something special, we can make it happen.’

‘No, I…’, Thea starts crying. ‘How am I supposed to be there? I can’t be there, at her funeral, I can’t do that.’

‘I know’, Felicity takes one of her hands in hers. ‘I know you can’t, and I don’t think Oliver can either. But, maybe… maybe you can fake it together.’

‘He’s the only one I have left.’, Thea whispers.

‘Yeah.’, Felicity agrees. ‘But, he’s not alone. He has me and Digg. And the Lance’s. So, really, it’s not just the two of you, Thea.’

‘Okay.’, is all she says. Felicity counts that as a win.

‘Are you hungry? There’s a Starbucks around the corner.’, Diggle asks, stepping in front of them.

‘Chocolate Brownie?’, Thea says with a wistful expression on her face, and it makes her look more like a kid, than the young woman she is. It makes both Felicity and Diggle smile.

‘Sure’, he agrees. ‘And your usual caramel latte?’

Thea nods and smiles gratefully, mumbling a soft ‘thank you’. She stands up and heads towards Oliver’s bed, gently sitting on the side of it and taking her brother’s hand in hers.

Felicity sighs, but it’s in relief. Digg gets it, because he puts his hand around her shoulder, giving her a half hug.

‘I need a double shot anything’, Felicity smiles up at him, ‘and some muffins. Oliver’s gonna want some coffee too when he wakes up, and if you get him some chocolate croissants, we might be able to convince him to eat them.’

Diggle kisses the top of her head and heads out without another word. Twenty silent minutes later, Oliver wakes up with a gasp. Thea doesn’t  even wait for him to realize what is happening, just throws herself on him, hugging him tightly and crying into his neck. Oliver flinches at first, probably because of his ribs, Felicity absently realizes, but quickly enough, he brings his hands around her back, and buries his face in her hair.

Thea’s saying things, but Felicity doesn’t hear them. Oliver doesn’t say anything, just closes his eyes and slowly breathes in and out. They stay like that for a while, and Felicity knows she should give them some privacy, but she can’t seem to move.

When Oliver opens his eyes, he looks at Felicity with so much gratitude, and disbelief and awe, it makes her heart skip a beat. So she starts to ramble.

‘Dr. Lamb said you have three cracked ribs and a small fracture in your knee. It’s going to need a brace and certain physical therapy exercises, but it’ll heal soon enough. Your mother pretty much already organized her funeral, I got in touch with the funeral home and put everything into motion. If you want anything in particular, we should be able to get it. The body’s still at the morgue, though. Laurel and her father left at some point, they’ll come back soon enough. I don’t know about Sara, Laura talked to her, but she refused to tell me anything. Laurel knows, by the way, not about Thea, but your _other_  big secret. The only reason I am mentioning it is because you are going to tell Thea sooner, rather than later. Like, today.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver tries, alarmed.

‘Either you tell her or I will.’, Felicity says, pointedly. ‘I’m sorry, Oliver, but you’ve hidden this from her long enough. Now more than ever, she _has_ to know. And it’ll be good for you too.’

‘Know what?’, Thea asks in a small voice, frowning from Oliver to Felicity, detaching herself from her brother’s arms, but staying close.

Oliver shakes his head. ‘Later. I… I promise I’ll tell you as soon as we’re out of the hospital.’

Felicity smiles and nods. ‘That’s not going to take a lot more. An hour or two. The doctor just wants to check some more things with you, Oliver, and give you both some pills. I’ll call Officer Lance and, hopefully, by the time we get to leave, he’ll manage to do something about the press outside.’

‘They must be going insane’, Thea mumbles.

‘Yeah’, Felicity sighed. ‘It’s nothing we can’t handle, though.’, she flinches. ‘When I said _we_ , I actually meant your PR department. They said they’re not going to write any press releases until after the funeral.’

‘How?’, Oliver frowns. ‘We don’t have a PR department anymore.’

‘Well, no, you don’t’, Felicity agrees. ‘But… Neither does Isabel, cause she’s been missing for a week. And the board isn’t pleased by that, so, after getting an anonymous message filled with proof that she knows Slade and has known him for a while, they had an emergency meeting tonight and they voted her off. You’re CEO again, hence the PR team dealing with this.’

‘But-‘. Oliver says, blinking rapidly.

‘Obviously you’re not going to go into the office anytime soon, and they don’t expect that or want it, really. They want you to be as level headed as you always are when it comes to running your company’, Felicity smiles. ‘So, until you reach that point again, Walter and the board agreed that he'll fill in for you. And he assured me he won’t take any major decisions without consulting with you before.’

Oliver is staring as her. And Thea is frowning at him. And he’s looking at Felicity, opening his mouth several times, but no words coming out. He still looks horrible, but the nurses cleaned him up, and patched him up, and there’s a spark of _something_ in his eyes. It’s not anger, or determination, it’s not what Felicity’s used to seeing in Arrow’s eyes.

It’s his love for Thea. And the thankfulness he has towards Felicity.

Oliver breathes in.

Felicity smiles. ‘Digg’s on a Starbucks run.’

Oliver breathes out.

‘I don’t know where Slade is. Yet. But I’m looking for it.’

Oliver nods and licks his lips.

‘Thank you’, he breathes out. ‘You…’, he bites his lips. ‘You got me.’

Felicity chuckles. ‘Yeah. I got you. Both of you’, she smiles at Thea. ‘I’ll go get the doctor. I’m sure you want out of here as soon as possible.’

She leaves the room without looking back, so she doesn’t see the way Oliver’s eyes follow her out, while he bites his lip to keep for crying. Or the way Thea squeezes his hand and thanks him for finding Felicity, and for being good enough to make her stay.


	12. Happy birthday, Oliver!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon requested: _Felicity and Thea plan a surprise 30th for Oliver at Verdant! He thinks there's some emergency but SURPRISE. it's his birthday party. And he goes to thank Thea for it but she's all "Felicity deserves the credit. I just gave her a place to have it." And he gets this look of adoration which leaves to a hug, kiss, whatever :)_
> 
> So, basically, five clues Oliver misses, and one he doesn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time setting:   
> Moira died, they killed Slade, Sara was still away, Laurel was in the know, so was Thea. Oliver got the company back, Felicity was still his EA, but she helped the IT department more often than not.

Oliver really didn’t care much about his birthday. Not after the island, not after he needed to remember to draw another line down the wall, just so he could count the days of his banishment.

So what if he turned 30 today? It didn’t matter, what mattered was that he was alive. And that wasn’t an issue of years, it was a problem of days. _I lived another day_ , not _I survived another year_.

The people around him, the important ones, knew as much. So Thea made him coffee and pancakes in the morning, giving him a strong hug and a sweet kiss on the cheek. They had breakfast together, talking about the club and about the company, small talk filled with Thea’s trademark snark, that made Oliver’s morning a bit more sunny. She left for Verdant soon after, giggling and asking him to not do anything stupid in his leather that evening. That should have been Oliver’s first clue.

♡

When Diggle picked him up, he greeted him with a grin, saying ‘Good morning, old man’, as he opened the car door. Oliver answered with a growled ‘No’, but he couldn’t help but smile when Diggle handled him a hot cup of Starbucks, even though, much like Felicity, the man never brought him coffee. That should have been Oliver’s second clue.

♡

When they got to the office, they were faced with a grinning Felicity. She didn’t say anything, but when Oliver made his way to her, noticing that her heels were just a slight higher than usual, Felicity ran a hand down his tie, which was odd, to say the least. Oliver yelped, and when he found his footing again, he raised an eyebrow, just as Felicity grabbed the tie and yanked on it, forcing him to bend down.

Felicity kissed his cheek, her lips lingering on his skin. She smelled of lemons, Oliver noted. She always smelled of sweet lemons, a fresh summer perfume, Oliver knew this. But times like these, when he was close to her, he gave in and let himself enjoy it, enjoy her.

When Felicity pulled back, she was smiling. So was Oliver, and he kept smiling as she arranged his tie back into place.  

‘It’s a pretty calm day today’, she said. ‘Just a meeting at noon, with the head of Applied Sciences, he wants to update you on the projects. You should check your e-mails until then. After that, Laurel is taking you out for lunch, and when you get back to the office, you’ll probably just have a few reports to go over. We should be able to leave to our other job early.’

That should have been Oliver’s third clue. But he didn’t notice it, just smiled at Felicity and thanked her, making his way towards his office.

He didn’t see the excited grin Felicity directed to Digg. Or how he winked back at her.

♡

Lunch with Laurel was surprisingly fun. There were light weighted conversations, about their jobs and their friends, good food and warm tea. Oliver was the one who brought up Sara, much to her sister’s surprise, but he explained that although he still cared about her a great deal, he knew that he wasn’t in love with her, he never was. Laurel smiled, relief written all over her face, and told him about Sara, about how she calls her every other day, about how she’s traveling and that she seems happy and at peace.

When they left, Laurel hugged him and told him to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid later in the evening, while wearing leather. He smiled, amused, realizing Thea used the same words that morning. That should have been his forth clue.

♡

They do, in fact, get to the Foundry earlier than usual. Oliver and Diggle start training, while Felicity works on her computers. Half an hour later, she happily announces that she has a lead on a man they’ve been tracking for a few days. They suspect he’s involved in human trafficking, but they have yet to found solid proof on it. So when Felicity suggested Oliver went to the charity gala the guy was hosting tonight, he quickly agreed. He’d poke around and plant some bugs, hoping they’d soon gather enough information to put the guy behind bars.

Oliver got dressed quickly enough; he made a point in keeping a couple of suits and a tux in the Foundry a long time ago. But when he got out of the bathroom, Felicity wrinkled her nose, much to his surprise. She then went on a rant about how the ballroom looked, and about the people attending, and before Oliver managed to understand what she was saying, Felicity was already taking off his black bowtie and putting on a dark red one. Oliver didn’t remember bringing it in the Foundry, nor did he remember having it at home, but he didn’t really get to think about that too much, because Felicity was already talking about the job, about what he should do and the schematics of the house.

That should have been Oliver’s fifth clue. He may have picked up on Felicity’s weird behavior, if Thea didn’t call him them, mad and slightly frantic, telling him that one of her vendors screwed up an order, but that he was the one acting insane and threatening her and her staff. So Oliver was up the stairs in a hearbeat, Diggle following close behind. He stopped half way through, though, and looked at Felicity, who was watching them from the middle of the Foundry. She was wearing a black dress, with big pink flowers on it, that matched the color of her lips perfectly. She smiled at him, big and carrying, a flash of color against the coldness of the Foundry, and Oliver couldn’t help but answer with a smile of his own.

‘Go’, she said, cocking her head to the side. ‘You can be late to the gala, go make sure Thea’s safe.’

♡

But when Oliver got to the front door of the club, and he heard some soft pop music coming from inside, even if it was too early in the evening for Verdant to be open, and when he felt Diggle putting a hand on his shoulder, grinning at him, winking and telling him not to scream, that’s when Oliver’s eyes widened and he realized the whole day has been just a little bit off.

When Diggle opened the door, Oliver was faced with a club full of people yelling ‘Surprise!’. The strength of it made him stumble a step behind, eyes widening in shock, bumping into Diggle’s strong chest.

The people started laughing and clapping, and Oliver turned slightly towards Diggle. ‘There was no gala.’

‘Nope’, he grinned. ‘Happy birthday’.

He playfully shoved Oliver forward, and he was assaulted by people wishing him a happy birthday, smiling and shaking his hand. And when he saw Thea at one of the balconies, in a bright blue dress, hair bouncing in curls on her shoulders, grinning down at him and looking more carefree than she has in a long time, Oliver found himself smiling, and actually meaning it.

♡

Oliver was pleasantly surprised by the party. It wasn’t the normal type you’d expect to have in a club, but not like the fancy galas he was used to, either. There was no DJ playing obnoxiously loud computer generated songs, but a live band, who were doing covers of popular songs, old and new. There were canapés and caviar on buttered toast, but also beer sausages and chips. The catering staff, who were just the club’s usual bartenders, were wearing green t-shirts and they made sure Oliver always had a glass of whisky in his hand.

Two hours into the party, he managed to make his way next to Thea, who was sitting at the bar. He didn’t say anything at first, just put a hand around her shoulder and rubbed their cheeks together, making the younger Queen giggle and playfully push him away.

‘Thank you’, he finally said, smiling down at her. ‘Everything is amazing.’

She saw it, that he actually meant it, because her eyes grew wide for a fraction of a second, but then she grinned and grabbed a hold of his arm, intertwining their fingers.

‘I wasn’t sure about the band at first. But they’re good, aren’t they?’, Oliver nodded excitedly.

‘Yeah’, Thea smirked, ‘I’ll make sure to trust Felicity more often.’

Oliver froze. ‘What?’

‘Oh, this is all her doing.’, Thea said, raising an eyebrow. ‘I just supplied the location. She organized everything. Been working on it for a couple of weeks, actually. Diggle, Laurel and I helped her when she asked, but that didn’t happen very often.’

Oliver blinked a couple of times, and he thought of saying something, but no words came out. He smiled, because once again, Felicity amazed him. Truly surprised him, and she managed to make him feel light again, carefree. He and Thea both, even if it was just for a short period of time, after all they’ve been through, they were having fun. And it was all on Felicity. Of course it was.

‘Good god, you’re smitten.’, Thea laughed, bringing Oliver back to life.

‘What?’

‘That look, on your face’, Thea explained, poking at his cheeks. ‘You only get that around her, you know. You used to get that around Christmas too. When you found where mom and dad hid the presents and you’d take a peek in them.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’, Oliver said, even though he knew he was blushing.

Thea hummed. ‘Speaking about presents. Laurel, Digg and I teamed up and got you a proper bed for the Foundry, and a couch to match. And no, don’t say a word, you know we’ll be using them more than you, so shove it.’

Oliver sighed.

‘Now, Felicity, I don’t know about Felicity’, she frowned, even though a smile was still playing on her lips. ‘I just assumed this party would have been her gift to you, but I know she got you something else. I have no idea what, it’s been a heavily guarded secret, let me tell you. But I think you should go and find out.’

At that, Oliver turned his head and looked across the room, searching for her. Thea puffed and grabbed his chin, directing his head toward the other side of the bar, where Felicity was sitting up at one of the high tables. She changed from her work clothes, she was now wearing a short black pencil skirt, that Oliver was pleased to realize was made out of leather. It had a high waist, and a dark green shirt was tucked into it. It had a few silver studs on the shoulders that matched the silver pumps Felicity was wearing. The pink lipstick was still present, and her hair was in her usual high pony-tail. Felicity looked as beautiful as always, but this outfit made her look a bit more wild, Oliver thought.

‘You do realize you said that out loud, right?’, Thea chuckled next to him.

Oliver turned to her, but didn’t say anything, what more could he say? He just kissed her cheek and made his way towards Felicity. She was talking animatedly, to the head of the IT department at QC, Oliver realized, and the man was smiling softly at her energetic hand movements, and Diggle, who was standing close to Felicity, on her side, seemed very amused.

Felicity seemed to quiet down as he made his way towards them, and the head of IT smiled brightly at him, clapping him on the shoulder and wishing him all the best.

‘Have some fun tonight, would you?’, the older man smiled. ‘Both of you’, he pointed a finger at Felicity. ‘You kids hold the weight of the world on your shoulders, you need to loosen up every once in a while, and there’s nothing a good glass of wine can’t fix. So, enjoy your night, mister Queen. And Felicity, congratulations, once again.’

He left quickly after that, Felicity just managing to thank you.

‘Congratulations on what?’, Oliver smiled, taking the glass of wine from Felicity’s hands and taking a sip.

She glared at him, but there was no heat behind it, considering she grinned afterwards.

‘They approved my project’, she said, excitedly. ‘The one for the intranet secure messenger. They’re going to start working on it soon, but he just assured me I’ll be able to keep track of the evolution, every step of the way.’

‘That’s great’, Oliver smiled at her excitement, putting the glass on the table between them and gently grabbing her hand. Her nails were painted dark red, but it was the single ring she was wearing what caught his attention. It was silver, a thin band with a very small arrow in the middle.

Oliver raised an eyebrow and looked at her, delighted to see that she was blushing.

‘Mister Lance thought it would make a nice Hanukkah gift. Laurel laughed for ten minutes when she saw it.’

Diggle bent over slightly over the table, to take a look. He snorted, and shot a pointed look towards Oliver. But he didn’t really need it, cause he just smiled and dragged Felicity to the dance floor, much to her indignation.

But her protests died when he wrapped a hand around her waist, bringing their still joined hands between them, resting on his chest. She puffed, but she was smiling as strongly as she was blushing, and her body became limp in his arms, making it easier for him to lead.

They were silent for the first song, and Felicity started to pull away when it ended, but Oliver didn’t let her.

‘Thank you’, he said softly, resting his cheek on her head, careful not to mess up her hair too much. ‘Thea told me that you did all this and I… I’m having a good time, Felicity. And you know how rare that is.’

He felt her smile. ‘I’m glad I could help, Oliver. I like seeing you like this. It should happen more often.’

Oliver swallowed around the lump that formed in his throat, the moment he felt Felicity’s warmth seeping through his chest and smelt her perfume.

‘This means a lot.’, he said, his voice cracking at the end. ‘This means a lot to me.’

Felicity froze for a second, but then she continued dancing and brought her free hand higher on his shoulder, stopping at the back of his neck and softly playing with his hair. Oliver tightened his hold on her, and turned his head slightly to kiss her temple. He let his lips rest there.

‘What’s happening?’, she asked in a small voice, when the next song started.

‘I don’t know’, Oliver told her frankly. ‘But I can’t stop it anymore. And I’d like to found out.’

Felicity sighed, but then she snorted. ‘You’re still smiling, doofus.’

‘I am’, Oliver agreed, turning her around with a bit more force than before, dipping her down a bit.

They were both smiling when they looked at each other, and Oliver held her down for a couple of seconds, staring into her bright blue eyes, that were shining in disbelief. She was blushing, and Oliver decided he liked the look on her.

When he got her up again, Oliver still didn’t let go, still keeping her as close as possible, still keeping her hand in his, resting on his chest. But they were looking at one another, faces close, but not touching. They were both still smiling, and Oliver’s heart was beating a bit faster. She could probably feel it, because her fingers were now on the pulse point on his neck. But that was okay, because Oliver could feel her elevated pulse on her wrist.

Everything zoned down to her. Oliver wasn’t aware of anything else than Felicity, her eyes, her hair, her smile, her bright colored lips. The fingers that were gently massaging his neck, the hand that was burning his, so warm and so soft. Her dark red nails next to his dark red bowtie. He couldn’t see anything else around them anymore, could barely hear the music and he didn’t really care. Not when Felicity was in his arms.

‘I’ve got you a present, you know.’, she said, smiling softly.

‘Beisdes this party?’

She nodded, seeming pretty proud of her self. Oliver chuckled.

‘What is it?’

‘It’s downstairs. I’ll tell you, if you promise to not run to it now.’

‘I’m not eight anymore, Felicity.’, he laughed. ‘I think I can handle that.’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘Have you seen The Avengers?’

That made him pause. ‘Yes?’

‘Well, you know Hawkeye, then.’, she started what Oliver was sure will end up being one of her babbling session. ‘And you know the quiver he had. I watched that movie at least ten times, and I couldn’t get over that god damn quiver. Like... how? How was it able to put heads on arrows, with just a push of a button? That didn’t make any sense, and I know, you’re going to say aliens don’t make sense either, but, the tech and science in the movie was pretty accurate. I mean, pretty plausible. So, in theory, it should be possible, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it-‘

She paused at the sound of his laughter. He couldn’t really help it, she was so invested in what she was saying, and she was talking with her whole face, eyebrows wrinkling and nose twitching, and her lips were moving very fast, Oliver found itself looking at them, quite a lot, because he was so close.

‘Stop laughing.’, she tightened her grip on his neck. ‘I’m trying to tell you I managed to make a prop used in a futuristic movie to actually work.’

He stopped laughing at that, his jaw falling over.

‘That’s right’, Felicity grinned, pleased with herself. ‘You can keep your normal arrows in it, but you can also put an extra head on them with the push of a button. We’ll have to work on the heads a bit, but I was thinking some venom, tranquilizer, the flashy thing you have, maybe one of the sonic things Sara left behind.’

‘You did that?’, Oliver managed to ask.

‘Had help, a lot of it, actually.’, Felicity ducked her head, looking to the side and pressing a bit closer to him. ‘From a good friend in Applied Sciences, who knew I was working with the Arrow since Lance called me in for questioning that one time. And from Caitlin and Cisco. But yes. You now have a movie-worthy quiver. Happy birthday, Oliver.’

‘You care about me’, he manages to whisper, after a few seconds.

She wasn’t looking at him, but he knew she was smiling. He heard her answer, even if she didn't say it out lound, and he really couldn’t stop it from happening anymore. He’s waited a long time, and he has always given himself excuses and reasons, but now, now he can’t help himself.

Oliver takes his hand from Felicity’s waist and puts it on her neck, mirroring their positions. As gentle as he can, he turns her head around, looking at her big eyes for only a second, recognizing the surprise in them, but also the trust and the adoration, and he closes his eyes and bends down, closing the distance between them and kissing her.

One, two, three seconds it takes for Felicity to unfreeze. She puffs, mouths _finally_ against his lips, and kisses him back. It’s slow, and sweet, so sweet, it makes his heart explode a bit in his chest. And Felicity’s still moving her fingers on his neck, and he can still count the beats of her heart, because he’s touching her wrist. And they’re still dancing, slowly, ignoring everything around them. And Oliver still hasn’t opened his eyes, and he brings her closer still, opening his mouth, letting his tongue run over Felicity’s lips. And she opens her mouth for him, and when their tongues touch, she scratches her nails on his neck, and that makes him groan a bit, and he moves his hand, from her neck to her wrist, bringing his closer still.

And then, he feels a rough hand on his shoulder, and he feels Felicity jump against him, and he turns around and sees Diggle frowning down at them.

‘I know this is a party’, he says, slowly raising a very judgmental eyebrow, ‘but none of these people paid for a show.’

Felicity yelps, out loud, and hides her face in the crook of Oliver’s neck. He blinks and looks around, and surely enough, it seems like the whole club is staring at them, even though they're trying not to.

So he does the only thing he could think of in this situation. It was sensible enough, he thought, as he wrapped his arms around Felicity’s waist, lifting her just above the ground and carrying her to the bar, grinning all the while and ignoring her threats and insults. They weren’t worth much, considering her lips were pressed to his neck, and he felt her every word and her every breath.


	13. I run to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon requested: _a fic based on the song I Run To You by Lady Antebellum? In a way I think this describes Oliver and Felicity rather well. Or it will once they're together :)_

**The world keeps spinning faster.**   
**Into a new disaster, so I run to you.**   
**I run to you, baby.**   
**And when it all starts coming undone,**   
**Baby, you're the only one I run to.**

**[ _Lady Antebellum - I run to you_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs38lKxmtI4) **

Oliver didn’t realize it at first. No, actually, it took a long time for Oliver to realize it. Months, in fact. It took him months to realize he was doing it. But when he did, he couldn’t really stop thinking about it.

It all hit him one day, one random, slightly uneventful day. The board of directors were just walking out of his office, at the end of a long meeting. They spent the last two hours listening to the head of Applied Science, who was very enthusiastic in explaining his plans for the future of the department. He had a few ideas and new project, but they were all a bit tricky, that’s why he needed the approval of the whole board of directors.

Oliver patiently listened to his whole presentation, to the pros and the cons the directors emphasized on, only now and then checking if Felicity was writing things down.

She was. Just like always, Felicity was standing in the chair by his right, tablet and keyboard at hand, writing down every important thing discussed. She never said anything, only when someone asked for her opinion directly. It happened more often than not, nowadays, once the board learned that she wasn’t just a dumb blonde EA, but someone Oliver trusts implicitly, a smart woman with pertinent opinions.

But Felicity was silent today. So when Oliver ended the meeting, proposing they meet in a couple of days after they’ve all thought it through, he knew he would need Felicity’s opinion on the matter.

More than that, though, he wanted her opinion.

It all hit him then, while he was sitting in his chair, watching Felicity holding the door open for his board of directors, smiling and politely bidding them all goodbye. She was wearing a dark red dress, with long sleeves and a V-neck, that had a wide white belt and skirt that went just a bit above her knees. She had a pair of nude heels on, that Oliver knew matched her bag. Her hair was up in the usual high pony tail, revealing a pair of dangling gold earrings shaped as feathers.  Her lips were as pink as they were when he met her, a year and some months ago.

And Oliver, since the moment he met her, Oliver kept running towards Felicity.

Even at the beginning, even before he actually met her, Oliver ran to Felicity for help. With Deadshot’s computer, with the Count’s drug, with Merlyn’s arrow. He needed help, and the first time, he went to her because he had no choice. The second time, he went to her because he saw how good she was. The third time, he went to her because he had no choice, because he knew how good she was and because he wanted to. She always helped.

The fourth time is when everything changed. The fourth time Oliver went to Felicity, it was because he was bleeding. He was running for his life, and he knew he could trust her. So he bled on her backseat, and she smeared his blood on her hands, but she helped.

And since then, Felicity hasn’t stopped helping him. No matter what, no matter what they’ve been gone through, together and individually, Felicity was always there to help him.

Because Oliver kept running to her.

When he needed information, he wouldn’t even try to find it by himself anymore, she’d break into a data base in no time.

When Tommy wouldn’t look him in the eye, he’d hide in the Foundry and listen to her type away at her computers for hours on end.

When Helena had her, he ran to save her. But that was a different story, Oliver assumed, because he will always run to save her.

When Tommy died, he ran away from her. But that was also a different story, because she ran after him. And brought him back.

When he first met Blood, Oliver asked her what he should do, in order to make the city change his opinion on him. She didn’t give him a straight answer, but she did give him the boost of confidence that he needed.

When Sara came back from the dead, Oliver ran back to the Foundry. Even though he didn’t want to talk about it, he didn’t want to remember it, he wanted to tell her, her and Digg, about what was happening at tat point. He wanted them to know what was wappening with him, so they’d understand. Diggle understood lies. Felicity didn’t. But she understood his need for secrets.

When his mother was facing a life in prison, or worse, Oliver found himself in the Foundry more often. Especially at nights. And she was there, either late at night or early in the morning, talking to him, talking at him, doing anything she could so he’d get out of his head, even if just for a few minutes.

He tries to go to her when the city’s exploding by Shrapnel’s hands. She’s not there. But Oliver assumed that was a different story, because she came back to him. Quickly enough.

When Sara falls into his arms, she’s the first one he tells. He doesn’t really know why, but he sends her a very impersonal text, not wanting her to be shocked when she sees them together. She calls him then, immediately, tells him she’s really happy for him, and hangs up.

He keeps calling her after that. Late at night, after a nightmare. Early in the morning, when a painful memory wakes him up. She’s always there, answering and giving what comfort she can. It’s a lot for him, even if she doesn’t realize it.

When she tells him about Thea’s father, he doesn’t run away from her. Once again, he runs to her, calling in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep, gaining comfort in her voice, telling him it’s going to be okay, that everything will sort itself out. They were pointless comforts, but her soft voice helped him push through.

When Sara fights with him over Roy, he runs to her, pushing the words out. And once again, she gives what little comfort she can. A small ray of light in all the darkness that surrounds him.

When Sara leaves, she’s there. He doesn’t run to her, but she’s there anyway, not saying anything comforting, but touching him and directing him to the more important problems, in the grand scheme of things.

When Slade kills his mother, he runs to her like never before. The moment he sees her taking Thea away from the body, he gets off the floor and runs to her. And she holds him tight, as he breaks down again, over and over again. He cries on her shoulder and she whispers empty words in his ear.

After his mother’s funeral, he runs to her again. At odd hours of the night, coming in through her window, waking her up and crying in her arms, falling asleep on her bed, surrounded by the warmth of her body.

When Slade takes her to the island, he runs to her. Again, fast as never before. And he doesn’t stop, he fights and screams and pushes, he fights till he can’t feel his fists anymore, he fights until he can’t stay upright anymore, he screams until he can’t speak anymore, he pushes and pushes and pushes, using all the strength he has, until he pushes Slade to the ground, until he injects him with the cure, until Diggle empties a clip into his head. He runs to her, holding her, for a change, comforting her, apologizing over and over again, and he cries in her arms, and she cries in his and tells him it’s okay, that she isn’t hurt and that he saved her again.

When Thea doesn’t pick herself up after her mother’s death, after finding out that he’s the Arrow, he runs to her. Defeated and broken, his heart broken and lost, he was so lost. And she held him, as long as he wanted, but then, then she ran to Thea. To this day, Oliver doesn’t know what Felicity told her, but his little sister came back to him. And together, they glued back their broken pieces, as best as they could.

When he got the company back, he ran to her, asking her to be by his side again. This time he asked, but she told him there was no need, the decision was already made.

When everybody in the company looked with uncertainty towards him, he ran to her, asking for her help. And, like always, she helped, with reports, with strategies, with everything and anything.

She was always there. Since the beginning, Felicity was always there. Blonde curls and pink lips. Blue eyes and bright colors. She was there, in the corner of his eyes, in front of him or by his side, wherever he needed her, even though he didn’t know what to ask of her.

That isn’t the truth, a voice that sounded like Slade called in his head. She wasn’t always there when he wanted her. But Felicity was always there when Oliver _needed_ her.

He trusts her, implicitly. He trusts her with absolutely anything, with his job, with his family, with his life.

So why can’t he trust her with his heart?

She doesn’t deserve him. She deserves better, he knows this. But Felicity wants him, he knows. After all these months, after everything, she still wants him, for everything that he is and isn’t.

She deserves his heart. It’s the least he could give to her, after all she gave him.

They’re alone in the office now, and Felicity’s standing next to him, frowning. She puts a hand on his shoulder, and Oliver shivers, even though his body is running hot.

‘Are you alright?’, she ask, and Oliver feels her worry.

He gets up and takes her hand in his, and she looks startled, mouth slightly open and eyes wide. But she looks as beautiful as ever, she looks so bright, so very bright.

‘I can’t see much’, he says aloud, ‘around me. I can’t see that much, except darkness. And pain, and void.’

She looks frightened, and Oliver holds her hand in both of his, quickly kissing her knuckles.

‘But you, Felicity, you are so bright in my life. I see your light and I think it could fight it, the darkness. And now, now I want it to.’

He’s speaking fast, and his breath is caught in his throat. And she’s looking up at him in disbelief and in awe and he bends down to give her a kiss, but he pulls away before she can react in any way.

‘I’ve wanted it for a long time, but I didn’t realize it. I knew you were important, but I didn’t realize how much I depend on you. I can’t function without you and I don’t want to. I want you, I want you next to me in every way, shape, or form and I don’t want to run away from you ever again. I just want to run to you. Like I’ve been doing this past year. Felicity, I’m always running to you and I will never stop. And I don’t want to. I want to run till you catch me and hold me tight and I don’t ever want to let you go.’

He takes a deep breath and that’s all he manages, because Felicity’s lips are on his, and she’s crying, and he’s not really far from it either. But Felicity hugs him tight, pressing up against his body, and she whispers to him between frantic kisses, that she’s here, that she’ll never leave, he has her, he always had her and he always will.

‘Keep running to me’, she says, pressing her forehead to his. ‘I’ll meet you half way.’

And it feels like the best thing Oliver heard in his life.


	14. Breathe with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [iloveyourintimate](http://iloveyourintimate.tumblr.com) asked: _Oliver having a panic attack on a boat (business/ close friends boat trip? with Isabel and Laurel?) with endless water, suddenly changed rainy-windy weather (storm yes please) and Felicity is his one and only savior in those darkest moments! And everybody is like are they that close or what?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course, trigger warning for panic attacks. But, honestly, I have never dealt with any serious panic attacks, so I don't think I've described it accurately. Still, I tried :)

'This wasn’t supposed to happen’, Oliver absently thought.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to one of the island off Coast City. Yes, it involved a two hour long boat trip, but that shouldn’t have been a problem for Oliver, he managed to get back on Lian Yu, a boat trip was not supposed to be a problem.

Plus, he wasn’t alone. Diggle and Felicity were there. And Isabel, because they were taking this trip to discuss business with a company they wanted QC to partner up with. And Laurel was there, surprisingly enough, because the CEO of the small company was a friend of hers, and he, as well as Oliver, thought it best to have a lawyer present at the discussion, and they both knew her and trusted her.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It wasn’t supposed to rain.

They were on a fancy boat, as Felicity put it. A yacht, smaller than the Gambit, made for short travels. It’s whole interior was decorated in leather and wood, with gold accents and it was all oozing wealth. It only had one big lounge area, below the deck, and they all choose to stay there for the length of the trip, because the weather was too cold for staying outside.

Oliver was on one of the couches, not really doing anything. He tried reading and checking his emails, but he couldn’t focus long enough to do so. Laurel and Isabel were to his right on the couch, talking about something, Oliver had no idea what. They were civil, and every now and then, they would laugh or giggle and it would make Oliver want to vomit.

Diggle was sitting on a chair by the door, doing something on his phone. Every now and then, he’d raise his eyes and glare at the two woman, rolling his eyes and puffing. It soothed Oliver’s heart, a little.

Across from Oliver, on a similar couch, Felicity was reading on her Kindle. She gave up her heels a few minutes ago, with a worried glance towards the other woman. But when she saw they were ignoring her, she shrugged and took them off, tidily putting them on the floor next to her, lifting up her legs on the couch. Her toe nails were painted bright yellow. She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a red baby-doll top and a cream blazer on top, that matched her shoes. She had a big red bag, and long gold earrings. Her hair was up, and her lips were pink, like always. She was curled into a ball, and she seemed absolutely lost in her book. Her fingers were absently playing with the end of her pony tail, twisting the hair and knotting it, only to let it fall and start over with a new lock of hair.

Oliver was looking at her when he felt it happening. The rain started ten minutes ago, and he noticed it, but he tried to ignore it as much as possible. He counted his breaths and pushed his nails in the palm of his hands, but he was okay, it was manageable. Until he heard the thunder. They all heard it.

Felicity flinched violently, quickly turning her head to look out the window. Laurel and Isabel took a break in their conversations, but continued it after a few seconds.

And Oliver, he stopped breathing. He tried to breathe again, but he couldn’t, there wasn’t enough air getting through.

He tried to take deep breaths, but he couldn’t open his mouth, it was shut tight. His body wasn’t listening to him, and that scared him. But not as much as what he was hearing.

The sound of the rain hitting the roof on top of them, the sound of thunder getting closer and closer with every hit, the sound of his heart beating faster and faster in his chest, it all terrified Oliver.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

‘Oliver?’, Felicity’s voice broke through everything.

He managed to look at her, and she was sitting upright, body bent forward, a very concerned look on her face. In the corner of his eye he saw a hand reaching out to him, and he was on the other side of the room in the blink of an eye.

‘Don’t touch him’, Felicity told the room, while Oliver fell to the floor, leaning against the wall.

She slowly made her way towards him, on her knees. She stopped close to him, but she didn’t touch him.

‘You’re having a panic attack’, she told him matter of factly. Her voice was strong, filled with confidence, but it was still soft, like she always was. It didn’t calm Oliver down, but it didn’t make him worse, either.

‘Bring your right hand up to your chest’, she said, confidently, sitting on the soles of her feet, hands in the air like she was about to touch him, but never doing so.

‘Why?’, he managed to wheeze out, and he was glad, because that meant his mouth was open now. So he started pulling in big breaths of air. It didn’t help.

‘Bring your right hand to your chest’, Felicity repeated, and he quickly obliged, instinct kicking in. She did the same, then she clenched her fist a couple of times. ‘It’s a relaxation technique’, she explained in a calm tone, that he managed to follow over all the commotion around him. ‘If you focus your brain on straining one set of muscles, like the ones in your hand, then you’ll relax the rest of the body.’

He clenched and unclenched his fist a couple of times, trying to synchronize his movements with his breathing. It didn’t work, and he found it even harder to breath, so he looked at Felicity in desperation.

She took a small step forward, now sitting on his side a bit, careful not to touch his legs, which were sprawled up in front of him. He followed her, turning his head to be able to see her.

‘Let’s try and breath together.’, she said, smiling softly at him.

‘Take a deep breath’, she instructed and he obeyed, ‘And keep it in, one, two, three, breath out.’

She took him through these steps a couple of times, never taking her eyes off him, and he couldn’t turn to look away from her, he couldn’t, he was afraid, so very afraid, and she was the only one helping him right now.

‘That’s good, Oliver. Breath with me, okay?’, she asks, taking exaggerated breathes of air, and he tries to synchronize with her.

Felicity takes another small step forward and brings one of her hands over the one he has on his chest.

‘Can I touch you?’, she whispers and he finds himself nodding.

She gently takes his hand, squeezing it once, twice, three times, before tugging on it. He lets her, and she puts it on her chest, above the line of her shirt. Her skin feels warm. Felicity doesn’t let go of his hand, just flattens it and keeps her hand over it.

‘Breath with me’, she says softly, using her other hand to push his chin up.

‘Look at me, and breath with me. In and out.’

She’s breathing slowly, taking long, deep breaths of air, keeping them in for a beat, and slowly letting them out. And he’s looking at her, in her bright blue eyes, but he sees lighting flaring in her glasses, and she’s speaking softly, whispering almost, but it’s all he hears. He doesn’t hear the thunder and rain anymore, he doesn’t hear the ship or the sea, Oliver just hears her.

Her skin is hot under his hand, and he doesn’t look down to her chest, but he can feel every rise and fall of it, and he’s trying his best to do as she asks, everything she asks, he can’t disappoint her, he doesn’t want to disappoint her.

‘Just like that. You’re doing good, Olvier’, she smiles and moves the hand she had on his chin. She wipes his face, softly, so softly, and Oliver didn’t even realize he was crying. She doesn’t take her hand away, just puts it on the back of his neck and moves her fingers, gently massaging his skin.

After a few more minutes, or it could be hours, Oliver doesn’t really know, he manages to calms down. He can breathe on his own and he blinks and finally sees Felicity. He sees her, still concerned, still holding on to him, still breathing with him, slowing her breaths down for him. She’s kneeling on a hard wood floor, and she’s probably ruining her pants, and her nails are painted a pale mint green, and her lips are still pink, as pink as ever.

And Oliver doesn’t need to turn around to know that everyone in the room is staring, but he doesn’t care, because he can’t hear thunder anymore, he doesn’t see flashes of lighting in her glasses, he just hears the rain, far away in the distance.

‘The storm’s over’, she says, smiling and tightening the grip she has on his neck. ‘We’re five minutes off shore.’

He nods, but he feels numb, so he does the only thing he could think of.

Oliver tucks his hand away from her skin, and leans forward, letting his face fall in the crook of her neck. He takes a deep breath there, and brings his arms around her waist, holding tightly. The angle is awkward, and they’re still on the floor, but he doesn’t care. He really doesn’t care, because she saved him. Again.

Felicity lets out a long sigh, and brings her hands to the back of his neck, again.

‘You’re okay, Oliver’, she says softly, rubbing her cheek on the top of his head. ‘But we’re taking a helicopter back home.’

‘You hate helicopters.’, he whispers.

She feels her smiling, more than he sees her. ‘That’s okay’, she says, squeezing his neck softly. ‘Because you’re buying me wine when we get home.’

They hear Diggle snort and they both freeze for a second, remembering they’re not alone.

Slowly, they detach themselves, and Diggle holds out a hand to Felicity at first, which she happily takes, smiling and making her way back towards the couch, putting her kindle away and her shoes on.

When Diggle offers a hand to Oliver, he doesn’t let go of it as fast. ‘You okay now, man?’, he asks, a frown between his eyebrow.

‘Yeah’, he breathes out. ‘I’m just gonna go wash my face’.

He makes his way towards the bathroom, completely ignoring the concerned looks Isabel and Laurel are giving him. He washes his face and takes deep breaths, but doesn’t close the door completely. And the boat stopped moving, they’re docking, so he still hears the conversation happening in the lounge.

‘Ollie didn’t use to have panic attacks.’, Laurel starts. Then, he hears Felicity scoff.

‘Yeah, well, that was before he, you know, spent five years on an island, seen a couple of people die, got tortured every now and then.’ She seems mad.

‘So you’ve seen him do this before?’, Isabel asks, and Oliver knows she had a judgmental eyebrow raised.

‘You don’t _do_ a panic attack, Miss Rochev’, Felicity almost hisses. ‘You _have_ one. At a moment when your emotions are too strong for your brain to control your body anymore. And no, I haven’t seen him like this before. But, the last time we were with him on a boat, I got a sunburn. So.’

Isabel puffs.

‘He surprises me, you know. After all he’s been through, you’d think he’d come back more damaged.’

Oliver flinches, but doesn’t move to get out of the bathroom. He hears Diggle snort and what was probably Felicity’s bag, hit the floor with a loud thud.

‘And you would know that how?’, she chuckles, incredulously. ‘I mean, excuse me, Miss Rochev, but I do know for a fact that you do not spend every minute of the day and night with Oliver. And, if you think about it, you didn’t even meet him exactly when he came back from the island, so unless you admit you had him followed, you really don’t know anything about Oliver’s psychological state.’

Oliver was in shock, but there was a smile playing on his lips. Because, as inappropriate as that was, Felicity put Isabel in her place. And that made him glad, and made him feel even more proud of her.

‘Well that was unnecessary’, he heard Laurel mutter.

‘Not really’, Felicity’s happy voice came through. ‘But moving on. You both know Oliver well enough to realize that the fact that we were here for this affected him more than the panic attack itself, so I’d suggest we just ignore it. Forget it ever happened, focus on the work we came here to do. How does that sound?’

‘Like a good plan’, Diggle said, and Oliver heard the smile behind it.

There was the sound of heels on the floor, and Isabel said a disgusted ‘We’ll be waiting by the car.’

‘Since when are you two so close?’, Oliver heard Laurel ask.

Felicity sighed. ‘We’re not _so close_. We’re friends, Laurel. That’s it.’

‘I don’t think that’s it’, Laurel said, and Oliver recognized the tone, she usually used it when she was interrogating witnesses. ‘I think there’s more to it than _just friends_.’

‘I’m telling you there’s not’, Felicity said, calmly, but it a tone that made her seem small.

‘But there is something’, Laurel insisted. ‘He pushed himself away from all of us since he returned, one way or another, he’s a lot more distant now. He keeps secrets from all of us, his friends and his family, but not from you. You seem like you know a lot of things, much more than we do. He pushed away from us and ran to you.’

Felicity was silent for a few beats, and Oliver heard Diggle sigh. It was the truth, Oliver knew this. But he was still curious to hear Felicity’s answer. He didn’t know exactly why, but it seemed important.

‘Did you notice I never call him _Ollie_?’, Felicity started. ‘He’s Ollie to all of you, but not to us. Digg and I, we didn’t know him before. I think that’s important, because we don’t see how much those five years changed him. We just see how much he changed in the past year.’

She took a deep breath, and Laurel started to say something, but Felicity didn’t let her.

‘We don’t expect anything from him. Well, no, we do, of course we do, that’s not what I meant. I meant that we don’t expect him to be the same person he was six years ago. We don’t know that Oliver.’

‘We don’t expect that either’, Laurel said, slowly.

‘Maybe _you_ don’t’, Felicity puffed. ‘I don’t know, we don’t like to get too involved in the relationships Oliver has with the people close to him, but… He still thinks he needs to be that guy for you. The same guy who left on that boat six years ago. And that’s … pressuring, it’s an extra weight on his shoulders.’

Laurel sighed and Oliver heard the sounds of heels again.

‘Just take care of him, will you?’, he heard her say in a low voice. Felicity didn’t answer, at least not verbally.

Oliver didn’t say anything when he came out of the bathroom, just put on his suit jacket as Diggle helped Felicity with her coat.

‘All set?’, she asked.

He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, telling her to make the call for the helicopter. She chuckled and made her way out the door.

Laurel and Isabel didn’t say anything more. The meeting went without a hitch, and they all returned to Starling City with a helicopter. Laurel hugged him goodbye, and Isabel just threw her hair in his face.

‘I will kill her’, Felicity said, with a sweet smile on her face. ‘Slowly and painfully. Tomorrow, though. I need a shower.’

With that, she walked towards her car.

Two hours later, Oliver knocked on her apartment door with two bottles of red wine and a pint of icecream. Felicity seemed confused when she opened the door, but let him in nonetheless.

She’s wearing a pair of light gray yoga pants and a pink, extra large t-shirt. Her socks are purple and fluffy, and her hair is still damp and down, falling over her shoulders in loose curls. There's no pink lipstick on her lips, and Oliver finds that a bit odd, but she's still beautiful. He tells her as much.

They don’t talk, just sit on the couch, watching movies, drinking wine and eating icecream. Oliver falls asleep with his head on her lap, her fingers gently making their way through his hair.


	15. Nevermind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [theiitgirll](http://theiitgirll.tumblr.com) asked: Olicity: fight + kiss in the rain.  
>  Guest star: _B a t m a n_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been listening to Story of my Life while writing this. On repeat. SO THAT JUST HAPPENED. I don't like One Direction !?!! OOPS.

Oliver hears her feet on the stairs, and that’s all it takes for him to realize that she’s mad. Felicity’s not wearing heels, but he still hears her stomp down the stairs.

‘Are you fucking insane?’, she yells, making him stop. Diggle and Roy both freeze too, on the training mats in front of him.

It’s the first time she’s ever cursed in front of them. So that means she’s really mad, fact made known also by the clothes she’s wearing, which appear to be closer to pajamas than streetwear. She has her phone in one of the pockets of her yoga pants, her car keys are dangling on her left ring finger, and her hair is loose, wild curls bouncing when she moves. She marches up to Oliver, doesn’t stop in her way, stepping onto the mats in her uggs.  

Felicity gets up in his face, leaving little space between them and she is absolutely furious, he can see it clearly in her eyes.

Oliver takes a step back, but Felicity doesn’t stop, she just takes a step forward.

‘Explain yourself’, she hisses, her hands moving a mile a minute. ‘Please explain to me why you decided to cancel my application for a leave from work, my plane tickets, my hotel room and my conference tickets.’

‘I-‘, Oliver tries, but she doesn’t let him talk. On the corner of his eyes, he sees Roy and Digg slowly backing away.

‘I have been talking to you about this for two months. Two whole months, Oliver. If something happened, you know I would’ve stayed. But nothing happened, because you would have called me if it did. But, no! You didn’t call!’, she’s screaming by this point and Oliver tries really hard not to take another step back. ‘You didn’t even have the decency to call me, I had to find out when some secretary called me to let me know I will still receive the conference goodie bag, even if I can’t make it.’

Oliver sighed.

‘What. Happened?’, Felicity screamed. ‘Please, just explain!’.

He’s never seen her so mad, not even when he made her his EA. Her cheeks are red and there are tears in her eyes, but she’s angry, so angry.

‘I told you not to go.’, he manages to say, even if he knows it’s not the right thing.

‘And I told you, no, I explained to you, exactly why I should go!’, she yells, hands going up in frustrations. ‘This could’ve been good for us, and good for me, Oliver’, she explains, in a lower voice, but just as strong. ‘Wayne Enterprises has one of the best Applied Sciences department in the country, and the projects they’re showcasing could have been good for you, for the Arrow. It was important tech and software that we could have learned to adapt for your needs.’

Felicity takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, counting backwards from ten. Oliver takes the opportunity to straighten his back and take a step backwards, lengthening the space between them. He lowers his arms, even if he doesn’t remember when he raised them slightly, like he was about to touch her waist.

When Felicity opens her eyes, she seems calmer. She’s still mad, but she seems less frantic and more put together.

‘Please, Oliver, explain to me why you wanted so badly for me to miss this conference.’

‘I don’t trust Bruce Wayne.’, he says, calmly, forcing himself to look into her eyes.

‘Explain that sentence.’, she says coldly, after a beat.

‘He knew who you are and he knew you were coming. He took an interest in you, as he was so keen to point out when he phoned me yesterday.’, Oliver says with no infliction in his voice. ‘He’s interested, because you work for the Arrow, which he found very intriguing, and because you work for me, which he found unbelievable.’, the last sentence comes out more hoarse than he intended.

Felicity’s jaw dropped half way through his explanation, but when he’s done, she narrows her eyes.

‘You’, she licks her lips, realization drawing on her face. ‘You don’t care that he knows I work for the Arrow. You think he’s going to ask me to come work for him again.’

‘Again?’, they hear Diggle question, somewhere in the background. Felicity ignores him, while Oliver says nothing.

‘You’re unbelievable.’, she hisses. ‘Did you hurt your head recently, or are you seriously this dumb?’

His eyes widen, and he takes a step back without even thinking, but Oliver doesn’t say anything, and Felicity follows him with a step forward.

‘I didn’t go to work for Wayne the first time he offered, after college. I decided to come to Starling, with QC. And I didn’t even know you then! I didn’t know you and I didn’t know the Arrow and I wasn’t involved. How could you possibly think that I’d give up all of this? How can you think that of _me_ , still, after everything?’

She looks hurt and Oliver can’t stand it.

‘That’s not it, Felicity.’

‘Then explain it to me, please.’, there’s venom in her voice, and it hurts Oliver more than he expected.

‘I know you wouldn’t take the job. Not… Not like that. But…’, he takes a deep breath and lowers his eyes. ‘He didn’t take an interest in you just because of your skills.’

Felicity is silent for a few long seconds, and when she talks, her voice cracks over the first words.

‘Bruce Wayne, the playboy billionaire we all know he is, took an interest in me and you’re… you’re what? You’re not allowing me to go because he’s going to _flirt_ with me?’

Oliver has the decency to not answer. Or look her in the eye.

Felicity slaps him, hard. It surprises him, but he doesn’t react much. His head moves to the side with the force of the hit, in sync with Roy’s loud gasp. Her hand hovers in mid air, and Oliver looks at her, as much as he can without moving his head. She’s crying, a little, and the anger in her eyes has been replaced with something else, but Oliver doesn’t know what.

Felicity curls her hands into a fist and lowers it, turning around and walking fast, almost running out of the Foundry. Oliver feels like she’s running away from him.

‘You screwed up, man’, Diggle says, once the door's closed.

Oliver nods, because it is true.

‘You should fix it’, Roy asks, a little hesitant. He looks concerned, eyes still on the door Felicity stepped out through.

‘Oliver’, Digg says, a little more forcefully.

‘If I go after her now’, Oliver says slowly, ‘I’m not going to stop until she’s in my arms.’

Digg sighs. ‘That’s not a bad thing.’

‘I’ll hurt her’.

‘You’re hurting her now’, Roy says, after a beat of silence. He steps forward, as does Diggle, coming on either side of him.

‘You can’t handle any more regrets, Oliver’, John tells him, a small smile playing on his lips. ‘Stop fighting it and go get her.’

And that’s all it takes. Because it’s Digg who says it, because he’s Oliver's best friend, and because he knows Felicity and he’s been here from the start, the start of them. John knows a lot of things, about him, about her, and about them.

So Oliver runs out of the Foundry. It’s raining outside, it’s pouring, and his jumper is sticking onto his skin after two steps. He doesn’t care.

He finds Felicity by her Mini, one hand on her chest and the other on the hood of the car. She’s breathing heavily, but Oliver doesn’t know if she’s crying, because her face is wet, and her hair is wet, plastered to her forehead, and her soaked clothes are clinging to her body.

As soon as she sees him, she starts shaking her head and she holds up the hand she had on her chest.

‘No!’, she yells forcefully. ‘No, Oliver, you do not get to do this!’

‘I’m sorry’, he says, taking her hand in his. She tries to pull it away, but he doesn’t let her. Then, she tries to push him, but he doesn’t move.

‘I’m sorry, I was a dick.’, he tries again.

She laughs, even if it sounds broken. ‘That’s not even it, you weren’t a dick. You just… you…’, she groans in frustration, hand going limp between Oliver’s fingers, but he doesn’t let go.

‘I understand why you would act like a jealous boss.’, she says slowly, not looking at him, but staring at their hands. ‘Even though I thought that I proved myself enough to you, that you understood that I will never leave your side. But you don’t get to do this, Oliver.’, she takes one, two, three deep breaths and closes her eyes. ‘You don’t get to deny my affections and then act like a jealous boyfriend. You don’t have that right, and it hurts when you do it. You’re hurting me right now, so please, Oliver, I am begging you, let go of my hand and let me go home. And I promise you everything will be back to normal tomorrow.’

Oliver can’t breathe. It’s pouring, cold, cold rain. But Felicity’s hand is in his. And it burns. And his chest fells hot, so hot, his heart is beating fast. For her, only for her.

It may not have been always for her. But his heart will always beat for Felicity from this point on.

‘I told Digg’, he says, but his voice cracks. So he takes a breath and tries again. ‘I told Digg that if I came after you now’, he squeezes her hand, ‘I won’t stop until you’re in my arms.’

Felicity gasps, and tightens her hold on his hand. She lifts her head up, slowly, and when she meets his eyes, Oliver founds disbelief.

‘Don’t say that’, she whispers, and Oliver barely hears it over the sound of the rain. ‘Don’t say that unless you mean it.’

Oliver lets go of her hand, then. As quickly as he can, he puts his hands around her waist and draws her close, as close as he can, their bodies aligned, until he can feel her heartbeat through his chest.

Felicity gasps, but Oliver doesn’t kiss her. For a few seconds, they both stand frozen still, just looking at each other. There’s a drop of rain on the tip of her nose and Oliver is sure she doesn’t see anything through her glasses anymore. So he gently lifts one hand to them, pushing them up on her head, getting Felicity’s hair out of her face.

She kisses him, then. Urgently, and fast, so very fast. Oliver doesn’t even realize when he opens his mouth, but Felicity is kissing him, with all she has. And he takes it in, he breathes her in, he doesn’t fight it anymore, doesn’t fight her. Oliver holds her tight and lets her have everything she wants, anything she needs.

Because he needs her, just as much as she needs him.

Because now, he has her. As much as she has him.

 

Felicity does go to Gotham, to Wayne Enterprises’ tech conference. And she does meet Bruce Wayne again, and he does flirt with her and offers her a job. But she just smiles at him, because Oliver chooses that moment to come back with a glass of red wine in his hand. He hands it over to her and kisses her check, sweet and fast, putting a hand around her waist.

‘You were saying, Bruce?’, Oliver raises an eyebrow.

Wayne just laughs. ‘Nevermind.’

So what if Oliver had to stand by her side for hours on end, bored out of his mind while she avidly listened to every speech? At least he got to have lunch and dinner with her every day, and got to listen to her talking excitedly about how they could adapt Wayne tech for the Arrow.

So what if Oliver had to leave Diggle and Roy in charge of Arrow business for a long weekend? At least he spent those nights in Felicity’s arms, sharing a bed in Gotham’s most expensive hotel.

Much to Bruce Wayne’s annoyance.  


	16. Live texting the DATE?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Felicity gets stood up on a date and Oliver swoops in to save her night :)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Diggle point of view, because a) why not? b) he’s the one that gets to see our Olicity first hand c) because of [this](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com/post/84412106896/reasons-why-john-diggle-is-the-olicity-fanclub) gifset I made after last night’s episode 2x21

‘What are you doing back?’, Diggle asked when he heard Felicity coming down to the Foundry, on a Friday night. She left half an hour ago, saying she had a date with some guy she met at the coffee shop. This was actually their third date, and she seemed to like him, or at the very least, enjoyed his company.

Felicity looked lovely when she left (Oliver even said so, which was something that didn’t happen outside of events that required formal attire), in a short puffy red skirt, and a simple black t-shirt. Hair down, bouncy curls falling on her shoulders, black high heels and big smile on her face. But now she looked tired, and defeated.

So Diggle made his way towards her, where she was slumped in her chair, vaguely aware of Oliver watching them from a few steps back (trying to be stealthy, he always tried that when it came to Felicity’s personal life, but Diggle always saw right through him).

‘He stood me up’, Felicity pouted, running a hand through her hair. ‘Said his ex-girlfriend wanted to reconcile, so it’s not like I can actually be mad about it, because he told me how much he still cared about her, it was one of the first thing he said to me.’

Diggle put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly, smiling down at her. ‘Well, it’s his loss.’

That got a smile out of Felicity. ‘Thanks, John.’

‘You can head home, you know’, Oliver said from the other part of the Foundry, typing on his phone and barely looking up. ‘You had the night off. You can still take advantage of that.’

Felicity frowned, and so did Diggle. But he chose to not say anything, going back to organizing the med supplies, but keeping an eye out to the conversation.

‘It’s fine’, Felicity told Oliver, shrugging her shoulders. ‘I’d rather do some maintenance on my babies here, than mope around my apartment, stuffing my face with icecream.’

With that, she turned around and powered her computers. Oliver frowned at her, putting away his cell phone. Then he turned to Diggle, with a questioning look. He didn’t know what that was about, so he just raised an eyebrow.

Oliver seemed to take this as an answer to his unspoken question, because he nodded and made his way towards Felicity, leaning against her desk.

‘I was supposed to have dinner with Laurel’, he said, crossing his arms across his chest, looking unsure, much to Diggle’s surprise. ‘I still have the reservations.’

Felicity didn’t say anything, just turned to look up at him, with her eyebrows raised.

‘So I’m still hungry, and you’re still hungry, and you still look very date-appropriate’, Oliver stumbled over his words slightly, and Diggle struggled to not snort.

When Felicity still didn’t say anything, Oliver sighed and smiled.

‘Have dinner with me. That new sushi place downtown, that everybody’s been raving about.’

‘I would love some sushi right now.’, Felicity finally smiled. ‘Give me 20 minutes to start some routine checks?’

Oliver nodded and squeezed her upper arm, making his way towards Diggle.

‘You want to join us?’, he asked, and Diggle let out a puff of air. He looked at Oliver, who seemed unsure and more anxious that Diggle has ever seen him, in regards to Felicity or any other woman. Then, he looked at Felicity, who was typing away, but her right foot was jumping up and down, seemingly uncontrollable.

‘I’m good’, is what he settled on saying. ‘You two have fun. I have to meet Lyla later, anyway.’

✿↗↘↗✿

When it was time for them to go, Oliver and Felicity both seemed a bit more at ease and comfortable, which Diggle considered to be a very good thing.

Truth was, he was getting tired of this one steps forward-two steps back game that his friends insisted of playing. Diggle knew they had feelings for each other, something more than just friends or partners (as Oliver put it). It was clear as day to him, he probably figured it out before either of them did.

But he didn’t want to interfere. They were both his friends, so he made sure to be there for either of them, when they needed him. But he didn’t interfere, because he knew that because of their lives and their past and future, this was something Oliver and Felicity had to figure out for themselves. By this point, though, Diggle was pretty sure it was only Oliver who had something to figure out.

That’s why he was glad that Oliver took the initiative tonight. Yes, they all spent a lot of time together, Felicity and Oliver even more, in board meetings and QC related things. But it never seemed like they spent time _together_. They knew each other pretty well by this point, that was clear, but Diggle thought that Felicity and Oliver needed to talk some more.

Freely, about things not related to work, or Arrow, or tragic events from their past that relate to tragic events in their present. And lately, it seemed like that was all they were doing. That, and figuring out what food to order or how to catch a bad guy. It was frustrating, even for Diggle.

But now, things had the potential to change. Arrow business was slow, lately, every big bad out there being scared of the Arrow, after how he managed to defeat Deathstroke. Slade was dead, Rochev was dead. Moira was dead too, but Thea stayed in Starling, even moved back in with Oliver. He had his company back, and he managed to put it back on the right track.

Sara was gone. She checked in, though, and Diggle knew Oliver was glad for that. He didn’t seem so devastated about her leaving anymore, he looked happy every time she told him how good of a time she was having, traveling the world.

Laurel was in the know, and she seemed truly supportive of Oliver and the Arrow. That gave Oliver confidence, but Diggle knew they were never going to get back together.

With Felicity and Oliver, the way Diggle saw it, it wasn’t so much a problem of ‘we’re both single now’. It was more on the lines of ‘are we ready yet?’.

And watching them now, walking out of the Foundry together, waving goodbye at him, Oliver’s hand on Felicity’s back, Felicity with a slight blush on her cheeks, Diggle thought his two idiot friends might just start to realize how _ready_ they really are.

✿↗↘↗✿

Diggle lied, he didn’t really had a date with Lyla that night. And Felicity knew this, because she kept texting him, sometimes adding pictures. He spent the evening on his couch, drinking beer and watching tv, laughing out loud at his friends.

 

Felicity: _The radio is playing an old My Chemical Romance song. I’m singing, yelling really. I think I scared Oliver._

Felicity: _This restaurant is so beautiful. I want to live here._

Felicity: _SUSHI! ALL THE SUSHI!_

Felicity: _Our waiter just said something in Chinese. We’re at a Japanese restaurant??_

Felicity: _Oliver answered him in Chinese, in a very Arrow-y voice._

Felicity: _The waiter called me a hot piece of ass, so Oliver told him to stick a chainsaw up his ass._

Diggle had to answer that, but all he managed was a _what the hell??!_

Felicity: _I’m laughing so hard, I can’t believe I convinced Oliver to tell me that._

Felicity: _His face was priceless, I’ve never seen Oliver blush._

And Diggle had to agree with that.

Felicity: _Oliver finally asked me who I keep texting. He seems confused._

An hour passed without any new texts, but Felicity returned eventually.

Felicity: _We’re in a sweets café?!! WHAT IS THIS HEAVEN?_

Felicity: _CHEESECAKE! WINE!_

Felicity: _MINE! ALL MINE!_

Felicity: _I am now trying to talk Oliver out of growing a mustache._

By this point, Diggle was looking down at his phone in disbelief. He really did not think this was how their evening will turn out. Or his, for that matter. But, after another hour of silence, they surprised him once more.

Felicity: _There’s a fair?! I didn’t know Starling had a fair?_

Another half an hour of silence after that, which Diggle was thankful for. This was getting weird, even for them.

But then, there was a series of rapid texts.

Felicity: _Oliver’s trying to steal my phonwewrew_

Felicity: _I stole her phone._

Felicity:

Diggle dropped his beer bottle. By the time he finished cleaning up and getting ready for bed, there were two more texts, ten minutes apart.

Felicity: _I think we’re durnk_

Felicity: _I think this was a DATE??!_

Diggle snorted. Out loud. He left his phone in the livingroom and went to bed.

✿↗↘↗✿

When he woke up in the morning, there was one more text from Felicity, sent close to three am.

Felicity: _This WAS a date. 10 am tomorrow. Oliver_

Diggle just shook his head and made breakfast.

✿↗↘↗✿

When Oliver and Felicity finally made it to the Foundry, at half past 10, mind you!, they were holding hands.

Felicity had flats on, very little makeup and her hair was up in a messy bun, but Oliver was wearing the same clothes as the day before. Diggle just looked at them.

Oliver was on the phone, with a very sour expression on his face, which Diggle knew Felicity would call grumpy.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t call, Thea’, Oliver was saying, exasperated. ‘Yes, I… No. What?’ He froze and stopped, but because he was still holding onto Felicity’s hand (and probably because he was pulling at it too, Diggle thought), he made her stumble a bit. She righted herself up, but she ended up more or less plastered to Oliver’s front, with his free hand around her waist.

She let out a surprised _oomf_ , but didn’t move her hands from where they landed on Oliver’s chest.

Oliver, who was looking down at her with a fairly concerned expression.

‘What exactly did Felicity post on her instagram last night?’, he said slowly.

‘Nothing incriminatory!’, Felicity was quick to say. ‘Just some cupcakes and some wine and maybe your face in the background?’. She was blushing furiously and Oliver sighed, deeply, his expression slowly turning into one of fond exasperation.

He quickly kissed the tip of her nose, making her blush even more, but then he froze again, griping her waist tighter.

‘No, Thea’, he said in a voice that was more Arrow than Oliver, ‘you will not be having girls night with Felicity if I am not around. No, absolutely not.’

Felicity playfully hit him in the chest. Oliver hung up the phone.

Diggle just started laughing. Still laughing, he made his way towards them and hugged them, quite easily considering they were still in each other’s arms.

‘I’ll go get coffee’, he said, making his way up the stairs. ‘Hangover’s a bitch.’

He was still laughing, over Oliver’s and Felicity’s denials. It was a good feeling.


	17. Plausible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [soulphur](http://soulphur.tumblr.com) asked: _Accidental Marriage. ^^_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is... crack, in it's purest form. I don't think this is what you wanted, I'm sorry?! I know this is not the way things work in real life, but bloody hell, I had a lot of fun with this. And it got away from me.

This was definitely NOT what she expected when someone kidnapped her and Oliver. They were drugged before they even realized what was happening, and when they woke up, they were in a room of the City Council, sitting on chairs in front of a desk where a man was shaking and pointing at the documents in front of him.

Team Arrow was on Jeremy’s Mack tail for weeks, always getting close, but not close enough to catch him. The guy started by dealing drugs and robbing banks, but recently he started leaving a trail of bodies behind him.

But this, this was not his MO. Felicity, Oliver and the city clerk were all held at gunpoint by Mack’s men, and he was threatening to shoot them if they didn’t do what he wanted. Which was for Felicity and Oliver to get married.

None of them managed to say anything when he announced his plan, Felicity and Oliver were looking at each other in complete shock.

‘Excuse me?’, Oliver managed to growl after a very long and awkward silence.

‘You heard me. Marry her, and you all get away.’

Felicity doesn’t remember the details of what exactly happened after that, but she knows Oliver and her both signed the papers. Mack left, they called the police, they all gave statements and the clerk assured them that he will make the marriage invalid.

And that was that. Felicity went back to the Foundry, searched for Mack, unsuccessfully, went home, took a long shower and went to bed.

▲

Of course, it wasn’t that simple, it never was. Felicity soon realized that, when she was woken up by a frantic Thea, who whooshed her way inside the living room, ranting about _How much of a jerk Oliver is, I mean, I get why he wanted the wedding to be low key, but this is me we’re talking about. How could he not tell me, how could you let him not tell me? I didn’t even know you two were dating, for Christ’ sake._

Felicity felt her heart drop to her stomach, and she wordlessly turned on the tv. And, yes, just as suspected, the very secret union between Oliver Queen and his EA was all over the news.

She stopped Thea from talking by putting a hand over her mouth, calling Oliver.

‘I thought I told you to take the day off’, is what he picked up with.

‘Are you at the Foundry? With Digg?’

‘Yes.’, Oliver answered, but Felicity heard the frown in his voice.

‘Both of you, get to my apartment as soon as possible. If you hurry, you might get here before the press does. If not, don’t say absolutely anything.’

‘What happened?’, he asked, concerned, and that calmed Felicity down a bit.

‘Try Channel 5’, she sighed.

The line was silent for a couple of seconds, time in which Felicity took her hand off Thea, who was watching her with a frown on her face.

‘Fuck’, Oliver said in a very odd high-pitched noise, and Felicity snorted.

‘That’s putting it mildly, _darling_.’, she hissed. ‘Not get your butt here, because I AM NOT having this conversation with Thea, that’s all on you.’

‘Oh god, she’s already there?’, Oliver groaned, and Felicity heard the sound of a car door being closed.

‘Just get here. And be careful.’

‘See you soon’, he said, and while it was meant to be comforting, it sounded a little desperate.

When she hung up, she groaned deeply, closing her eyes and rubbing at them with the back of her hands.

‘It’s not that bad’, Thea said in a small tone, and Felicity smiled, because she knew the younger Queen was trying to be supportive.

‘We’re not married’, she told her quickly, looking at the ceiling. ‘We signed the papers by gunpoint and the clerk said he’d annul it.’

There was a pause. ‘Really?’

‘Would I lie about this?’, Felicity said, annoyed.

‘I’ll go make some coffee’, Thea patted her knee and left for the kitchen.

Felicity curled herself on the couch and buried her head under some pillows.

▲

Oliver got there quickly enough, with Diggle and with the head of the PR department at QC, Jonas Avery, which Felicity knew was a close friend of the Queen family and frequently dealt with their press problems.

But Felicity also knew he was a stuck-up bastard, who always looked at her with superiority and thought she was just a dumb blonde. That will not be helping their case. Neither was the fact that she was still wearing her pajamas, meaning a pair of shorts and a tank top.

‘I need to put on pants’, is the first thing she says, opening the door and letting the men in. ‘And some lipstick. Yeah, some lipstick’s gonna help.’

‘How will lipstick help?’, Oliver frowned, gently touching her elbow as he went passt her, to the living room.

‘It’s my war paint.’, Felicity deadpanned. ‘Helps me slay all the dragons.’

Oliver just looked her at blankly for a couple of seconds, then he narrowed his eyes.

‘You haven’t had coffee yet.’, it wasn’t even a question.

‘Thea’s making some. Go and…’, she waved her arms around. ‘Explain. You need to explain and I need to put on clothes.’

Oliver sighed, but turned around and went to the kitchen.

▲

In her bedroom, Felicity put on a pair of black jeans and a simple pink tank top, throwing a white blazer over it. She took an extra five minutes to put some foundation on her skin, a bit of mascara and a layer of her favorite lipstick. She put her hair up in a messy bun, but, while she changed, she didn’t close the door.

Thus, she heard Oliver explaining the situation. That someone kidnapped them yesterday, that they didn’t know who he was, that they were forced to sign the papers and that the police already knew about the incident, and that the marriage was supposed to be annulled.

When she went back into her living room, there was a place next to Oliver on the couch left for her, and a cup of coffee. Thea was sitting in an armchair and Avery in the other, while Diggle stood next to her bookshelf, on one of the kitchen chairs.

Felicity took a seat next to Oliver, throwing him a fleeting smile, out of habit, greedily drinking from her coffee. She looked expectantly between him and Avery, waiting for them to say something.

‘Now what?’, Oliver asked the other man.

‘Well, it depends on what you want to do’, he said in a thoughtful voice. ‘If you want to follow it up with a bigger wedding, if you want to leave it at this, either way, we should do a press release, maybe even a press conference.’

‘Excuse me?’, Oliver asked, after a second, and Felicity really found it funny, how confused he was.

So she straightened her shoulders and glared at Avery. ‘Look, sir, just because there have been rumors running around our office building, that does not make them true.’

‘What?’, Oliver seemed even more confused, so Felicity turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

‘Remember when Rochev thought you were sleeping with me?’. Oliver’s eyes grew wider, just a bit, and Felicity nodded. ‘Well, those rumors didn’t die along with her. In fact, I’m pretty sure they just grew worse over time. Cause, you know, I’m still your EA, after everything that happened, so I must be doing something right. Which of course means sex, cause it’s not like I could possibly be good at anything else, could I?’

God, she was frustrated. Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but Avery cut him off.

‘So you’re not sleeping together?’

‘No’, they both glared.

Avery had the decency to look away. ‘So you want to annul it.’

‘Obviously’, Felicity sighed.

There was a pause. ‘That’s going to be a bit more complicated.’

Felicity groaned, and lowered herself further into the couch. ‘How is this my life?’

‘We’ll fix this’, Oliver said with conviction.

‘Of course we will’, Felicity scoffed. ‘You couldn’t handle me as a wife. You’d go off running. Heeey, we could get a divorce. That could work, you couldn’t handle my rambles and tech talk and I couldn’t handle how much space your gym equipment needs and how you never fold your clean socks.’

Felicity looked at Oliver with a hopeful smile on her face, while Oliver just looked at her blankly, blinking rapidly.

Thea burst out laughing, a bit hysterically, ruining the moment. Avery pulled out a tablet and asked for a glass of whisky. Diggle gave it to him, even though it was barely 10 am on a Sunday morning.

▲

Avery didn’t stay for long. He left with the promise to talk with lawyers and people from the City Hall, saying he’ll contact Oliver as soon as possible.

But all the time he was there, he was incredibly rude towards Felicity. She was used to it, and she never backed down, always answering him, brushing off his insults as politely as possible.

‘Why was he so rude?’, Thea asked her, once Avery was gone.

Felicity shrugged. ‘He wasn’t that rude, this was pretty manageable.’

‘There’s worse?’, Oliver frowned.

Felicity nodded, looking at Thea, rather than him.

‘How worse?’, the younger Queen asked. ‘Ruder that that?’

‘Well’, Felicity rolled her eyes and realized there was no use in lying about this anymore, ‘I think the worse was when I went to the bathroom at QC and there were four different PA’s there. They introduced themselves, cause I had no idea who they were, then promptly asked me how big your brother’s penis is.’

Oliver chocked.

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘Yeah, mister. You got the good end of that, considering all Isabel said was that my skirts are too short. Which, granted, they are. But hey, I got the legs to pull them off, so’, she shrugged, casually lifting her legs up and putting them on the coffee table.

She saw Oliver’s eyes move across them, but decided not to comment on it. It probably was an involuntary reaction to her words.

‘Felicity, are you okay?’, Diggle asked, handing her a plate with toast. ‘I know how your mouth to brain filter works, but you’ve been off all morning.’

Thea nodded at that, putting a comforting hand on her knee.

‘Well.’, Felicity started. ‘When we brought Thea in on Oliver’s secret, we all agreed we’d stop lying and hiding stuff from each other. In the honor of that, and considering how incredibly messed up this situation is, even by our standards, I just think it’s best if I say _fuck_ _it_. I know you’re not going to judge me, cause you’re all awesome people and amazing friends, so…’ she shrugged. ‘So fuck it’.

Nobody said anything, they all just looked at her, but then they heard Ac/Dc’s Iron Man blast through the room.

Felicity shrieked in horror. ‘That’s my mother calling.’

‘It’ll be okay once you explain the situation’, Thea smiled.

Felicity grabbed her phone and headed to the kitchen. ‘If I die, please delete my internet history’. That got a snort out of Diggle.

▲

The conversation with her mother was more one-sided. Felicity listened to her for 10 minutes, trying to interrupt, unsuccessfully. Her mother was whining, about how Felicity lied to her and about how it’s every mother’s wish to see her daughter get married.

When she felt her mother close to crying, Felicity had enough. She yelled into the phone, completely ignoring Thea, who came to the kitchen in search of snacks.

‘Mother, shut up for a bit! Do you honestly think I wouldn’t tell you if I had managed to get my hands on somebody as hot and amazing as Oliver fucking Queen?’

There was a crash in the living room, and Thea put a hand over her mouth, watching Felicity with wide eyes.

‘I am not dating Oliver Queen, I have never dated Oliver Queen, he is my boss and my friend. I am married to him because a psycho kidnapped us and held us at gun point to sign the motherfucking papers. Before you ask, yes, I am fine, I am not hurt in any way, shape, or form, the police are working on catching that jerk, Oliver’s lawyers and PR team are working on annulling the marriage.’

There was a pause.

‘So you’re still single?’, her mother asked.

Felicity groaned. ‘Yes, mother, I am still single. Don’t you have something better to do? Cause I do. Like, loooooads of work.’

That got a chuckle. ‘Like what? Who do you plan on hacking now?’

‘Nothing like that’, Felicity smiled, shaking her head. ‘But I do have very important plans that involve friends, pizza and doing my nails.’

She hung up soon after, and Thea finally moved, grabbing an apple.

‘I need to do my nails too’, she grinned. ‘I’m sick of this color.’

Felicity laughed and made her way back to the living room, where Oliver was awkwardly still sitting on her couch, and Diggle was looking through her bookcase.

‘So boys. Do you have any plans for today? Cause I don’t think you can leave that easily, there’s press outside.’

They both shook their heads.

‘Good, good. John, order some pizza, will you? Oliver, raid my dvd collection, see if you can find anything that pleases you, but make sure you haven’t seen it before. Thea, the nail polish shelves are in my bedroom.’

‘Shelves? As in multiple ones?’, Thea frowned.

Felicity grinned. ‘Have you met me?’

▲

So Felicity spent her Sunday inside, hanging out with her friends. They watched a couple of movies, had pizza for lunch and Chinese for dinner. She and Thea monopolized the couch, spending the whole length of a movie doing their nails. Felicity did them black with an aqua French tip, while Thea painted each nail a different color, she got very excited upon seeing Felicity’s collection and said she couldn’t choose.

Oliver and Digg looked at them like they were crazy. Diggle recovered first, just watching them with amusement after a while. But Oliver kept frowning and at one point, he started picking up every nail polish, turning them around and reading the labels. _Bubble bath, Kiss me I’m Brazilian, Spaghetti Strap, Videodrome, who the hell names these things?_

Felicity couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so hard.

▲

She almost forgot something was wrong, but Avery came back, a bit after 8 pm.

Diggle handled him a glass of whisky wordlessly, and he drank it before he started talking. Avery explained that the city clerk that was with them last night was found dead this morning, and that the kidnapper cut the cameras, so they only had their word for what actually happened inside.

Felicity was starting to feel sick, but Avery didn’t stop in his explanation. He said that the City was basically trying to wash their hands of the problem, and was treating their certificate like a normal one.

‘So that means’, Avery looked down at the empty glass that he was still holding, ‘that if you want to annul the marriage, you have to prove that uh. You have to prove that-‘

‘Spit it out’, Felicity sighed.

‘Your best bet would be to prove that the marriage wasn’t consummated’, he sputtered out, very quickly.

He was met with silence. Diggle and Thea were just blinking, looking at him. But Oliver grew quite pale, and he wasn’t blinking at all; and Felicity wanted to scream.

‘Are you telling me’, she was the first one to manage to talk, ‘that we have to prove that we didn’t have sex?’

Avery nodded.

‘Well that’s a first for Ollie’, Thea said. ‘Most girls usually try to prove they _did_ have sex with them. So they can brag about it.’

Oliver made a sort of choked-whining noise, making everyone in the room look at him. And Felicity had just about enough. She got an idea, that was either genius or absolutely idiotic. But by this point, she didn’t have anything to lose. And neither did Oliver. So she went for it.

Felicity took a deep breath and absently put her hand on Oliver’s knee, trying to calm him down. She waited for him to let out a deep breath, and his body seemed to relax under her hand, then she took her eyes off him and looked at Avery, trying to talk in a steady voice, not letting her annoyance and anger show too much.

‘That’s impossible to do’, Felicity started. ‘And you know that, because every single person who works in the firm thinks we are sleeping together and that we have been doing it for months.’

‘What about your friends?’, Avery tried.

‘Closed circle’, Oliver practically growled, and Felicity tightened her hold on his knee.

‘Plus’, Thea waved an arm around, ‘most of us think it’s plausible’.

Once again, Oliver made a weird noise from the back of his throat, and while Felicity glared at Thea, she pressed herself closer to Oliver and took his hand in hers.

‘So our only option is to prove that we have been sleeping with other people’.

Oliver squeezed her hand. ‘You know there hasn’t been anyone in a long time.’

‘Oh, I know that’, Felicity nodded. ‘So that leaves me.’

Oliver frowned.

‘And that’s unfortunate’, Felicity continued, looking to Avery, ‘because the guy I’ve been sleeping with for the past months isn’t very… reachable.’

There was a long pause, in which Oliver kept frowning, and looking at her in an odd way, he seemed almost mad. He didn’t let go of her hand, though.

‘I’m sure he’ll spare an hour of his time to come down to City Hall’, Avery narrowed his eyes. ‘For you’.

‘Not really’, Felicity pulled a face. ‘He doesn’t get out much. In public, that is. And when he does, he tends to… uh, well. It usually doesn’t end well for the people who see him.’

‘What the hell does that mean?’, Avery glared.

‘That the last time he went to City Hall he kinda trashed it. In a fight.’, Felicity shrugged. ‘He kicked the bad guys’ asses, though.’

Avery showed no sign of anything on his face. But Diggle facepalmed, Thea was biting her lip and Oliver, well… Oliver was just looking at her. No emotion on his face, it was more like he was looking through her.

‘What?’, Avery finally asked.

Felicity turned towards him, squeezed Oliver’s hand, and said in the most straight voice she could muster.

‘I’m sleeping with the Arrow.’

Avery started laughing, much to everyone’s shock. He stopped suddenly, looking at Felicity with wide eyes.

‘Oh good god, you’re serious.’

Felicity sighed. ‘Yes, yes I am. So, you can see, why it would be hard for him to meet with… lawyers and city representatives and … people’.

‘I’m not sure I actually believe you.’, Avery narrowed his eyes.

‘Well, judging by the shock on their faces’, Felicity pointed to her friends, ‘it’s safe to assume I haven’t actually told anyone. But. A few people know that I work with him from time to time, with tech support.’

‘People?’, Avery said, and uncertainty was starting to creep into his features.

Felicity nodded. ‘Present company included. And there’s Officer Quentin Lance at the SCPD, he questioned me about it before the Undertaking. While I did tell him then that I didn’t know the Arrow, I was lying. But, since then, they started working together too, so there’s that. There’s also his daughter, Laurel Lance, at the DA's office, who also works with the Arrow every now and then. And Argus knows. A certain … uh… I can’t exactly tell you her name, it’s classified, but I’m sure if you contact Argus and mention the Arrow, she’ll call you back. They contact him through me, most of the time, and yeah, okay, they don’t know the real nature of our relationship, but at least they can attest that there _is_ a relationship. I really don’t know what more than that we could do.’

She sighed. ‘I’ll talk to him and try to convince him to make an appearance, but he most likely won’t accept that. Maybe a video call? Or something? I don’t know, it could work.’

Avery was staring at her. Jaw dropped, wild look in his eyes. Felicity blinked as innocently as she could.

After a few beats, Oliver drew his hand away from hers, and coughed awkwardly. Then, he glared at Avery.

‘Fix it.’

‘Yes, sir’, the man responded. He was out the door in a blink of an eye.

Felicity sighed. Oliver was watching her with a very hard expression, with his eyes narrowed and a nervous tick in his jaw.

‘Sorry?’, Felicity tried, but it was lacking strength.

Thea started laughing then. Hysterically. She didn’t stop for 5 minutes. On the clock. Felicity could relate, really, she would have found it hilarious if she wasn’t involved, first line. So she just sighed and rested her head on Oliver’s shoulder.

‘Wait’, she said, slapping his knee. ‘If we’re married, does this mean I can use your credit card?’

Oliver sighed, putting a hand around her shoulder. ‘You already use my credit card.’

Thea laughed even harder.

▲

The next day was absolutely horrible. Not only did she have to dodge reporters on her way out of the apartment, but she also had to bypass them at the QC entry. And then, when she finally made it inside, everybody was staring and it felt like the whole building was whispering.

Some people even congratulated her. Her only response was _It’ll be over soon enough_.

By the time lunch came around, the conference table in Oliver's office was filled with gift baskets, her desk was almost buried under congratulations letters, the phones have not stopped ringing, reporters from all over the country trying to get a statement. And Felicity was very close to ripping her hair out.

So a bit past 2 pm, she stormed into Oliver’s office.

‘I say we take the wine and make a run for it.’

‘Excuse me?’, he raised an eyebrow.

‘The wine from the gift baskets.’, she explained. ‘And run for it. It’s not like you’re doing anything important, this whole company stopped working the second the news hit the stands.’

Oliver nodded and shut down his computer.

‘And where do you wanna run to?’. Then, he grinned. ‘Wanna go to Vegas to get properly married?’

Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘I know that’s usually the way to go, but you forget that I grew up there and that my mother still lives in Vegas. Are you really ready to meet your mother-in-law?’

There was a pause. ‘My place or yours?’

Felicity blinked. ‘How about our place? Where we usually spend our nights?’

Oliver wrinkled his nose, while putting on his suit jacket. ‘The mattress there is way too hard for you.’

Felicity hummed. ‘I’m hungry. We should stop to get something on the way.’

‘And some coffee’, Oliver agreed. ‘Did you manage to-‘

‘No’, Felicity interrupted. ‘I still haven’t tracked Mack down, but I’m close. And so is the police. I’ll work on it once I’m not hungry anymore.’

They both stopped by the door, where Thea and Diggle were watching with equally amused expressions.

‘And you still don’t know why we find you two plausible?’, the girl raised an eyebrow.

Oliver put a hand around Felicity’s waist, surprising her and bringing her close to him, practically gluing their sides together. Then, he kissed her cheek and grinned.

‘Vegas?’

‘No’, Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘We need a rabbi to marry us.’

▲

Their marriage was annulled the next day. Laurel, Officer Lance, Thea and Diggle were all present. The Arrow made a very short appearance, much to Roy’s delight, who was very glad to wear the green hood for a change.

Felicity and Oliver never heard the end of it. This was a moment they would never forget, considering all their friends kept teasing them about it.

▲

A couple of years later, Thea started her speech by saying

‘I am really happy to be here, at this wedding, Felicity and Oliver’s wedding, considering I missed their first one.’


	18. Welcome to Vegas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon requested: _anything that has to do with diggle and/or oliver getting a glimpse to felicity's old life in vegas :P_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably isn't what you asked for. I'm sorry, my head wasn't in the game today. !!?. So this is random, really. Eh. Read it anyways, please :)

When Oliver called her into his office, telling her that they were expected in Vegas the next week, Felicity didn’t react. She patiently listened to him explain the situation, why the business trip was necessary, that they had to meet with one of the men QC was running after for months, Matthew Perkins, trying to solidify a partnership, between his company and QC. Oliver included a little information about the itinerary as well, but in the end, he asked Felicity to take care of it.

‘Where will we be staying?’, was the first thing Felicity asked.

‘Hard Rock Hotel.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Could you be more pretentious?’

Oliver huffed. ‘He was in charge of the reservations.’

‘Okay’, Felicity sighed. ‘And I assume it’s necessary that I come with you?’

He frowned. ‘Do you not want to?’

‘It’s fine, actually. My mother doesn’t work at the Hard Rock.’

Oliver froze at that, confirming Felicity’s assumption, that he forgot about that particular bit of information.

‘Would you rather we stayed in a different hotel?’, he asked, cautiously, and Felicity shook her head.

‘No, not at all. It’s quite perfect. I get to avoid her and blame it on work, and because I’m in charge of our itinerary, I’ll be able to squeeze a night off for us, so I can go see her and you guys just go… do whatever it is you do.’

Oliver frowned some more and stood up, making his way towards her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

‘You don’t have to come with me’, he said after a few seconds of consideration. ‘I can handle it.’

Felicity smiled broadly at that. ‘You really can’t. It’s fine, Oliver, really.’

‘We could arrange something else’.

‘I really don’t want that.’

‘Well what if’, he smiled. ‘What if I wanted to meet your mother?’

‘Why would you want that?’, Felicity frowned.

‘Because it’s _your_ mother.’, Oliver said easily, like it was obvious. That made her heart skip a beat, and she took a deep breath and smiled.

‘You wouldn’t like my mother. I don’t even like my mother, most of the time. And she really wouldn’t like you. So you should just take that as it is, and forget about it.’

He still hesitated.

‘Please, drop it.’, Felicity tried again.  

‘I just want what’s best for you’, he said softly.

‘And I appreciate it’, she smiled, taking a step back. She looked towards Diggle then, who kept quiet through the conversation. He knew a lit bit more than Oliver, but not everything.

‘I know I don’t talk about it, and I’ve always appreciated it, that neither of you pushed the subject.’

‘You still don’t have to tell us.’, Diggle said, oddly soft.

That made her smile. ‘Still, you deserve to know. Especially now, since it may interfere.’

Felicity took a deep breath and crossed her hands over her chest. ‘It’s not that bad, really. Not anymore. It’s just how it is. Uh, when my dad left, mom took it badly. She blamed me, for years, thinking he left because he couldn’t handle my energetic self. She stopped, eventually, but our relationship couldn’t really be mended by that point. She didn’t know me, at all. It wasn’t hard for me, I was used to it, really. I liked being by myself.’

‘That must have been hard, though, Felicity’, Diggle pointed out. ‘Don’t bring it down just because you’ve moved passed it.’

She hummed. ‘I liked computers more than people, so that doesn’t really matter’.

‘What about now?’, Oliver asked. ‘I assume you leaving Vegas didn’t help the relationship with your mother.’

‘No’, she nodded. ‘But it helped me. The biggest problem I ever had with my mother was that she’s sort of old fashioned.’

‘Is she overly religious?’, Oliver frowned.

Felicity laughed, much to the men’s surprise. ‘She is most definitely not overly religious. But she thinks that women should settle.’

‘What does that mean?’, Diggle raised an eyebrow.

‘It means that she always thought computers, programming and IT aren’t a field fit for a woman.’

Both men pulled a face at that.

‘When I told her I got demoted to an EA position’, Felicity continued, ‘she was happy that, and I am quoting here, that I was finally finding my place in the world.’

‘That’s horrible’, Diggle deadpanned, after a beat of silence.

Felicity snorted. ‘That’s my mother. It’s fine, really, I’m okay. With her, and with going to Vegas’, she turned towards Oliver. ‘But I really would appreciate if it you’d never meet her. Like ever.’

Oliver took a deep breath, but then he smiled. ‘Okay. As you wish.’

‘You know you can talk to us, right?’, Diggle said with a frown, taking a step forward.

‘I know’, Felicity smiled broadly. ‘And you know that I do talk to you, about what’s important. This isn’t. Not anymore. But, full disclosure, you’re taking me to Vegas. Brace yourselves.’

‘For?’, Oliver raised an amused eyebrow.

‘Oh I know you’re used to Vegas’, Felicity chuckled. ‘Everybody heard about your 21st birthday.’

Oliver flinched.

‘But’, she continued, ‘Felicity Smoak in the town she grew up in? She might surprise you.’

‘You’re doing it too, now.’, Diggle groaned. ‘You’re talking about yourself in the third person.’

Felicity and Oliver both laughed at that.

\o/

They made it to Vegas and checked into the hotel without a hitch. The first night there had only a casual dinner planned, with the CEO of the other company. Felicity accompanied Oliver at that, and she actually enjoyed herself, mostly because he included her in the conversation, even if it was business related. He asked for her opinion, at first, then for explanations and details, and, soon enough, Felicity was fully integrated in the conversations the two CEOs were having. It felt like a test, which clearly she passed, proving herself worthy in front of Perkings, because after that first evening, he always treated her like he treated Oliver, not like his EA.

The next couple of days went along in similar fashion, their time being spent between board meetings and department tours, dinners and cocktails in various restaurants.

But Felicity felt Oliver watching her, more often than not. Truth was, she felt comfortable in Vegas. She knew it well, and she understood how everything worked. It wasn’t something she could control, but she noticed how things have changed in the places they went, more often than not she offered little pieces of trivia, much to Perkin’s delight, about the history of the casinos, about what was best to order in certain restaurants, about which route was the fastest. And every time she’d let something like that push through, Oliver would watch her for a couple of seconds, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling, and sometimes in shock.

He’d always touch her, someway, after one of the bartenders would offer her a glass of wine without her having to ask for it, or when people unknown to him came by to hug her and exchange pleasantries.

She knew it was different for him, to see her here. But she didn’t mind it at all. Vegas was important to her, and he seemed to understand that. He didn’t say anything about it, though. Not a word. And when Perkins tried to mention it, Oliver would make sure to change the subject. Felicity appreciated it.

Half way through their stay, Oliver and Perkins were invited to the Gold Coast Hotel, for an evening of cocktails and gambling, as the invitation put it, by the manager.

Perkins agreed, and Oliver was obligated to follow, but when he turned to Felicity, she shook her head.

‘You go ahead’, she smiled. ‘I can’t really go in there.’

‘Why not?’, Perkins asked, genuinely interested.

‘I got banned from most casinos in Vegas a few years ago.’ At his shocked expression, Felicity smiled, as innocently as she could. ‘I count cards. And I can’t really shut down that process. Please give the manager my regards, though. He’s a family friend’, she threw Oliver a pointed look. ‘Have fun, I’ll meet you in the morning.’

‘No’, Perkins frowned. ‘We’ll just go and play some poker, how about we have a late dinner afterwards?’

Felicity couldn’t decline, so after they set up the details, Perkins bid his farewell, but Oliver stayed behind. ‘When you say family friend…’

‘I mean that he’s a friend of my mother’s.’, Felicity explained. ‘She works there.’

Oliver flinched. ‘Do you want me to-‘

‘No’, Felicity interrupted. ‘Go, have a good time. But if you see a waitress in her 50s, don’t ask what her full name is.’

‘I hate this’, Oliver said softly, after a beat.

‘Thank you for understanding, though’, she answered, just as softly. ‘I really does mean a lot to me, Oliver.’

\o/

Felicity went back to her hotel room, took a long bath and got ready for the dinner. She put on a short, black dress, tight on her body and with a lot of thin strips of a silver material that created a complicated design on her arms. She wore her hair up and a pair of silver pumps, pink lipstick firmly in place.

When she got to the restaurant, though, Oliver and Diggle were the only ones seated at the table, explaining that Perkins ditched them. Felicity didn’t mind, and they didn’t seem to either, because they had a good time, they all felt very relaxed. It didn’t happen too often, so Felicity was very glad.

But, halfway through dinner, she noticed that Oliver kept glaring daggers at someone. She asked him what was wrong, but he didn’t tell her at first. When she finally convinced him, he blushed while he explained.

‘One of the waiters keeps staring at you, since the second you walked in.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘Our waiter?’

‘No, that one.’, Oliver practically growled, pointing to one of the men that were next to the bar.

Felicity turned around, as subtle as she could. And, sure enough, a well built blonde man was looking right at her. Her heart skipped a beat, but she didn’t let it show. With just a spare glance thrown at Oliver, she straightened her back and put her elbow on the table, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. She looked at the waiter, and licked her lips in a very dramatic way, then she winked.

‘What are you doing?’, Oliver asked in a strangled voice, but Felicity didn’t get to answer, because the waiter was already by their table, glaring down at her, with his hands on his hips.

‘Are you kidding me right now?’, he said, urgently. ‘I haven’t seen you in years, and you just swagger in here, hair bouncing, tits out in the open-‘

He was cut off when Oliver violently put his glass back on the table, with a loud bang.

Felicity burst out laughing, much to Oliver’s shock, while the waiter kept looking at him and Diggle, a very alarmed and slightly scared look on his face.

‘Oliver, John, this is Matt’, she took the waiter’s hand. ‘Matt, this is my boss, Oliver Queen, and his bodyguard, John Diggle. They’re also my friends, and they’re very protective, so you should behave.’

‘God damn it’, Matt sighed, looking back at her.

Felicity got up from her chair and hugged him tightly, laughing silently.

‘It’s good to see you’, she smiled up at him when she pulled away. ‘Sorry I haven’t called to tell you I was in town. We’re not staying for long, and it’s work.’

‘I know’, he nodded, grabbing her hand again. ‘Your mom told me. You’re having dinner at hers tomorrow, right?’

‘You coming?’, Felicity grinned.

‘Someone has to do the Margaritas’, Matt rolled his eyes playfully.

Felicity laughed and quickly kissed his cheek, getting lipstick on it. He didn’t say anything when she started to wipe at it, just looked at her with a fond smile on his face.

‘You look good, Smoak.’, he said then, squeezing her hand. ‘You always were beautiful, but Starling works for you, it seems. You happy?’

She smiled. ‘I am. I don’t know what lies Mom’s been feeding you, but I am. Starling’s a good place for me.’

He hummed. ‘I’ll believe you for now, but I will drill you for details tomorrow.’. Then, he whined a bit, running his fingers through her pony tail. ‘You need to visit more often.’

‘What’, she chuckled, ‘do you miss waking up with my hair all over your face?’

He laughed and hugged her again. ‘I do, it’s been way too long since I had to fight you for the pillows.’

‘I have to get back to work’, he said when they pulled apart. He helped her back in her chair, and when he looked at Oliver and Diggle, he had a very professional look on his face.

‘Enjoy your stay, gentlemen. I’m sorry I interrupted your dinner.’ Then, he winked at Felicity. ‘See you tomorrow, hot stuff. Don’t wear heels.’

After he was gone, Oliver and Diggle were looking at her with very weird expressions.

‘Did you two date?’, Oliver asked, gruffly.

Felicity shook her head. ‘Just friends, mostly. He’s the best friend I had through high school.’

‘Do you usually flirt that much with your friends?’, Diggle raised an eyebrow.

‘Just the gay ones’, she winked.

‘Well that explains a lot’, Oliver said, after a beat.

‘I’ve told you before’, Felicity chuckled. ‘I did have a life before I met you two. And it’s not all so predictable as you’d think.’

‘I’m starting to see that’, Oliver narrowed his eyes. ‘And we’re just sitting here, patiently waiting for you to tell us about it.’

Felicity was silent for a few seconds, but in the end, she realized that she wanted to tell them. They were her friends, and they deserved to hear about all the trouble she got herself into when she was younger.

‘What do you want to hear about first?’, she smiled. ‘About the time I accidentally dated a lesbian for a couple of weeks in college, or about how I got bullies to stop picking on me in high school by hacking into their phones and sending their dick pics to their parents?’

Diggle was blinking fast, and Oliver’s eyes were wide.

‘Or maybe you want to hear about how Matt and I went to prom in matching outfits, only I was wearing a suit and he was wearing a very short dress and heels? Or how, for my final project for a class in college, I hacked the network and sent a picture of Nicholas Cage to all the professors and all the students MIT had in the past 5 years?’

Felicity went back to the dinner, silently laughing at her friends’ alarmed expressions. It was Diggle who recovered first.

‘You know what I really want to know? About your first boyfriend.’

Oliver made a weird noise then, covering it up with a caught. Felicity ignored him.

‘Well’, she tapped her fingers on the table. ‘That is a funny story. Considering I was a freshman in high school and Matt was my first boyfriend, for like, a day and two make out sessions, until I informed him that he was gay.’

‘What about your 21st birthday?’, Oliver asked, then. ‘You know about mine.’

Felicity blushed, ducking her head, but she didn’t say anything.

‘Well now you have to tell me’, Oliver chuckled.

‘It wasn’t fun’, Felicity said after a few seconds. ‘Matt and a few of my girlfriends took me to a strip club. I vaguely remember the lap dance I got from a guy who looked like Justin Timberlake, but after that… I woke up in bed, next to Matt and the manager of the club. Neither of us remembers what happened, but we do not talk about it.’

‘When I met you’, Oliver finally said after a few silent seconds, looking intensely at her, ‘I thought you were just a beautiful nerd.’

She tilted her head. ‘When I met you, I thought you were a pretentious dochebag who worked for the Arrow.’

‘Really?’, he frowned.

‘Yup. I was pretty close.’

‘I’m not that big of a douchebag’, he pouted.

Felicity laughed and asked for more wine.

They left the restaurant very late in the night, after all of them told stories from their past, the more embarrassing or dumb, the better. She didn’t remember the last time she had so much fun. And judging by the long hug Oliver gave her back at the hotel, by how he kissed her forehead and told her, once again, that she’s remarkable, Felicity assumed she wasn’t the only one who enjoyed their dinner.

\o/

The next evening, Felicity went to her mother’s apartment for dinner. It was okay, as it usually was, because they both put effort in not saying anything bad towards the other. Matt being there helped, until he started interrogating Felicity about a particular sensitive subject.

‘Tell me, are you climbing that boss of yours like a tree? Cause if you’re not, why not?’

Felicity glared.

‘Well excuse me’, he waved a hand around, ‘but he did promote you, demote you, whatever, he took you from your sad little cubicle in IT, raised your salary and brought you close by his side.’

‘We’re friends’, she sighed. ‘That’s it. We’ve been friends since he came back from the island. Kinda. Give or take a few months. That’s why I’m his EA, because he needed someone capable and someone he could trust by his side.’

‘That’s kinda depressing’, Matt frowned.

‘It’s really not. I can count on him. And John. And you know that’s not easy for me. It’s not easy for Oliver either, but he trusts me.’

She bit her lip and took a sip of her wine.

‘I care about both of them. And they care about me too, way past out job titles or social background.’

Her mother, who has been uncharacteristically silent throughout the conversation, sighed and took her hand. ‘Are you happy?’

Felicity smiled. ‘I am. A little bit lonely, but I’m working on that.’

‘Good’, her mother nodded. ‘Now eat your burger, you’re too thin.’

Felicity rolled her eyes and listened to Matt waxing poetics about how her boobs looked in the dress she was wearing last night. She sighed, as her mother demanded more pictures of Felicity’s outfits.

When her phone rang 10 minutes later, and Oliver’s picture flashed on her screen, both her mother and Matt were watching with interest.

‘We have a problem’, Oliver started with. ‘At QC’, he explained after hearing her gasp.

‘What happened?’, she sighed, calming down upon finding it's not Arrow related.

‘Well, I’ll explain it to you soon. On the plane ride back, we have to leave. Now. I am really sorry, but I promise you I’ll give you a week off to properly visit your mother.’

‘I might take you up on that’, Felicity smiled after a beat. ‘I’ll head back to the hotel now.’

‘No need. I got the staff to put your bag back together. We’ll be arriving with a car in three minutes.’

‘Here? You’re coming here?’, she hissed. ‘How do you even know where my mother lives?’

‘Felicity’, Oliver chuckled. ‘Just because, before last night, I didn’t know all that about you, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t know the important things. See you soon.’

He hung up, leaving her staring at her phone with a frown on her face. But she couldn’t really think about it then, because she had to explain to her mother and Matt what was happening.

Sooner that she would’ve liked, there was a knock on the front door, and her mother jumped out of her chair to go answer it.

Oliver smiled at the woman, kissing her hand and apologizing politely. Felicity saw all protest die on her mother’s tongue, as she melted over the whirlwind that was Oliver.

‘Like daughter, like mother’, Matt whispered in her ear. She didn’t say anything, just ducked her head, knowing he’d take that as an answer.

‘What exactly happened, Mr. Queen?’, Felicity asked him.

He frowned, then quickly raised a disapproving eyebrow.

She sighed and shook her head. ‘Just get on with it, Oliver, what happened?’

He nodded and winked at her, causing her mother to freeze and look at him with a new found curiosity. Oliver didn’t seem to notice, which was a good thing. Diggle did, though, and he stifled a laugh.

‘There’s a virus in the security program’, Oliver told her with a frown on his face. ‘I didn’t understand the specifics, but it’s keeping them out. The building’s on lockdown and they, I quote, literally cannot get their head around it.’

Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘They said that? Exactly that?’

‘Yes’, Oliver said with a particularly disgusted look on his face. ‘And that’s why you need to get there at soon as possible.’

‘I thought you were his EA’, Matt said, with a frown on his face.

‘She is’, Oliver answered before Felicity got the chance to. ‘But she still works closely with the IT department, especially on the security protocols. As I understand it, Felicity wrote them in the first place, and we have yet to find someone as capable as her in dealing with them.’

She hit him in the chest, surprising everyone.

‘Stop kissing my ass, Oliver. They know how smart I am, you don’t have to tell them that.’

He smiled, while Diggle snorted.

‘My apologies’, Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘I just thought I’d explain why I’m taking you away from them.’

‘It’s fine’, her mother said. ‘We get it. Still, sweetheart, don’t let so much time pass till you visit again’.

Felicity hugged her, and then she hugged Matt, who lifted her off the ground and kissed her cheeks.

‘You should visit me sometime, you know’, she winked at him. ‘You might like Starling.’

‘I don’t know, I hear the gay clubs aren’t that fun.’

‘Stop’, her mother raised a hand. ‘I don’t wanna know’.

‘I don’t know about the gay bars’, Oliver tilted his head, ‘but my club is pretty cool.’

‘It’s your sister’s club now’, Felicity said before she could help herself. Then, she turned to Matt. ‘And you would like it, it’s pretty much your style.’

‘It’s settled then’, he grinned. ‘I’ll be seeing you soon, Smoak. Now go save the day, my gorgeous  superhero.’

Felicity burst out laughing at that, and even Oliver chuckled.

\o/

They got back to Starling City quickly enough, and Felicity fixed the problem in two hours. Oliver took her out to dinner after, just the two of them at Big Belly Burger. They didn’t talk about Vegas, about her mother or Matt. She can’t really remember what they talked about, because all Felicity focused on was how much Oliver was touching her. Her knee, her shoulder, her elbow. They spent a good half an hour just holding hands, and she had no idea what that meant. Felicity didn’t ask, and Oliver didn’t stop doing it the next day.

\o/

A couple of months later, Felicity woke up in the middle of her bed, with Oliver’s hand on her waist and Matt’s leg over hers.

She froze, completely, vaguely remember them drinking at Verdant, vividly remembering Oliver dancing with her for what felt like hours. She remembered the cab ride home, and Oliver carrying her to bed, taking off her dress and getting her into a t-shirt, while Matt went to take a shower.

Her head hurt, and she was pressed closely to Oliver’s naked chest, while Matt was snoring.

Oliver tightened the hold on her waist, moving quickly and kissing her on the lips. Then, he started placing quick kisses down her neck, until he stopped, his head resting on her chest.

‘Go back to sleep, Felicity.’, he mumbled, his eyes still closed.

‘Did you just kiss me?’, she shrieked.

‘About damn time’, Matt groaned to her right. ‘But please refrain from doing more until I leave the bed.’

‘Go back to sleep, Felicity.’, Oliver said, once again.

‘Go back to sleep, hot stuff’, Matt also said.

‘Is this real life?’, she couldn’t help but ask.

Matt groaned, stealing the comforter from her, burring his head under it. She shivered instantly, so Oliver pressed himself even closer to her, throwing a leg over hers, holding her tightly. Once again, he kissed her, longer this time, and she responded, of course she did.

When Oliver pulled back, he sighed and rested his head back on her chest.

‘I didn’t sleep with Matt’, he mumbled. ‘You didn’t sleep with Matt. You didn’t sleep with me either.’

There was a pause.

‘We’ll get to that after Matt leaves. And with less alcohol involved. And with more dates involved. Proper dates, not Big Belly or green things.’

Matt was already back to snoring and Felicity was looking down at Oliver, whose eyelashes were brushing her skin, who was half naked and pressed to her, who was moving his hand up, so that he could brush his fingers through her hair.

‘Go back to sleep, Felicity. Your head will hurt less if you sleep more.’

And Felicity couldn’t really argue with that logic.


	19. Smoak vs. Deadshot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has to go undercover to a gala, with Deadshot as her plus one. _shenanigans_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry?! I just think that Felicity and Deadshot would be fun to watch interact. I think he'd try to flirt with her, and she'd shut him down quickly, and after some time, they'd end up bonding and discussing really _important_ things. I want it.

When Felicity made her way the Foundry steps, early on a Saturday night, she was not expecting to see Deadshot sitting on one of the tables, dangling his feet in the air, wearing blue jeans and a gray Henley, smiling up at her. It was one of the last things she expected, and that’s saying a lot.

‘What are you wearing?’, was the first thing Oliver said when she made it into his view.

She frowned down at the dress, it was the short gold one she wore the first time she went on the field with Oliver and Diggle.

‘You saw me wearing this before, with a complementary bomb necklace.’

‘Why are you wearing it?, is what I meant.’, Oliver tilted his head to the side.

‘Because I came here straight from the baby shower.’ At his blank look, she explained, a hint of sarcasm involuntarily pushing through her tone. ‘The baby shower, for the head of accounting’s soon to be born little girl. The party you were supposed to go to, but said you had better things to do. So you sent me, with your gift. The one I chose, of course. She loved it, by the way.’

Oliver frowned and took a few steps in her direction. ‘I’m sorry I took you away from the party.’

‘It’s fine’, she waved him off. ‘The wine was terrible and all the cupcakes had nuts.’

She made her way to her desk, taking off her high heels and putting on a pair of flats she always kept in the Foundry. Oliver wasn’t saying anything, frowning at her, Diggle was glaring daggers at the back of Oliver’s head, and Deadshot was still smiling at her.

‘What’s going on?’, she finally asked Oliver, sparing a glance at Deadshot before.

‘Argus needs our help.’, he says, slowly.

‘Clearly.’, Felicity puffs. She turns towards Lawton and offers a nod. ‘I’m Felicity Smoak.’

‘I know’, he says, much to Oliver’s annoyance and her surprise.

‘Does Waller have a file on me?’, she asks, after a beat.

Deadshot just grinned.

‘Nevermind’, Felicity turns around back to Oliver. ‘What’s happening?’

‘Amanda needs information. About Charlie Manner’s operations.’

Felicity frowned. ‘Charlie Manner, as in the guy who owns that foundation that helps the families of cancer victims.’

Deadshot nodded. ‘He also does a little bit of human trafficking on the side. Mostly women and children.’

Felicity winced, and Oliver absently put a hand on her shoulder.

‘You have an invitation for a gala’, she looked up at him. ‘Charity gala, to raise money for his foundation.’

‘But I can’t go’, Oliver nodded.

‘Because it’s at the same time at the ribbon cut for the hospital wing.’

Felicity was really proud of Oliver for that. After his mother died, he really couldn’t catch a break. He had to deal with taking care of Slade, with Sara’s departure, with Laurel finding out. Then, he had to help Thea heal, and after that, he had to fight to get his company back.

But the first thing he did when he had access to the Queen money again, was to donate a large part of it to the hospital in the Glades. They renovated a wing and renamed it after Moira Queen, and Oliver made sure that everything was state of the art. She was proud of him, because that was the way he coped with everything he lost. 

‘You can’t miss that’, Felicity smiled softly. ‘So what’s the plan?’

‘We don’t have a plan’, Oliver said rather violently, taking a step back and looking everywhere but at Deadshot.

‘We do have a plan’, Diggle raised an eyebrow. ‘He just doesn’t like it.’

Felicity ran a hand through her hair and raised an eyebrow at the visible discomfort Oliver was showing.

‘So I go instead of Oliver’, she nodded, ‘with a check in his name. Take Diggle as my plus one. Mingle a bit, blend in, then we sneak in and find a computer, I hack into the mainframe and copy everything.’

‘You’re a smart cookie’, Deadshot chuckled, earning a glare from Felicity.

‘There’s just one problem’, Diggle sighed. ‘Amanda doesn’t trust me anymnore.’

‘Right’, she said, slowly, in sync with Oliver’s nervous clenching of his fists. ‘But she trusts Lawton.’

Deadshot grinned, once again.

‘So you go as my plus one, and Diggle as our driver.’

‘I don’t like it’, Oliver said, with a pointed look towards Deadshot. Who just kept grinning and dangling his feet.

Felicity took a step towards Oliver and smiled up at him.

‘It’ll be fine. This is not the first time I do something like this. I can do it.’ She spared a glance toward Deadshot, rolling her eyes at his nonchalance. ‘And I’m sure Mr. Lawton will take care of me in case anything happens, because nobody wants to get on the Arrow’s bad side’. She grinned up at Oliver, but upon seeing his fairly annoyed and very pouty expression, she giggled.

‘Come on, Oliver’, she bumped shoulders with him. ‘You have to go to the hospital. It’s your baby and you have to be there when it comes to life.’ That managed to make him smile, even if just a bit. ‘I’m very proud of you, and I wish I was there, but, let’s be honest, we do owe it to Waller.’

He sighed, defeated. That made Felicity grin, taking a step towards Lawton and Diggle.

‘Pick me up tomorrow at 7?’

‘Quarter to 7.’, Diggle shook his head. ‘So we have time to set up comms.’

She looked towards Lawton, then. ‘Stand up.’

He obliged, with a curious frown on his face. She stood next to him, shoulder to shoulder, and he straightened his back when she did it. Felicity mentally catalogued her heels, thinking about which of them would be low enough to keep him taller than her, but fit for the occasion.

‘I don’t have a dress.’, she finally said, making her way to the computers. ‘Shopping tomorrow it is.’

All the men were looking at her weirdly, but she just waved them off. ‘Now, tell me everything you know about the job, so I can find out everything you don’t know.’

○○○

Felicity managed to find a good dress quickly enough, thanks to her favorite boutique downtown. It was a very dark teal, but with somewhat of a Greek line: strapless on one shoulder, tight over her breasts, with a strip of gold braided material under them, the skirt falling to the floor, in loose creases. She paired it with her pair of nude heels that were shorter than what she would’ve usually worn, and with a gold clutch.

She styled her hair to the side of her shoulder that was bare, created a soft gold makeup look, and traded her bright pink lipstick for a darker lipstain. She looked good, as it was expected for Oliver’s EA.

When Diggle picked her up, he whistled, making her laugh. All of the fears she had disappeared then and there, because Felicity knew this was a fairly easy job, and that John would be there to have her back, even if Lawton failed to do so.

She was still nervous about spending an evening with Deadshot, but if Diggle trusted him enough to leave her in his hands, then Felicity would trust Floyd Lawton too.

He was waiting for them by the car, casually leaning on it.

‘He cleans up nicely’, she whispered to Digg, before thinking about it. And he did, Deadshot was wearing a simple tux, but it was well fitted. He looked put together, and yes, the eye patch was weird, but not for her.

‘I’m not gonna comment on that’, Digg pulled a face, making her giggle.

All the while, as they walked from her door to the car, Deadshot didn’t look at anything but her. At first, he looked at her body from top to bottom, but then he smiled and looked straight into her eyes.

‘You’re gorgeous.’

Felicity couldn’t really help the blush that spread across her cheeks. ‘Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.’

‘Did you really wear lower heels so that you wouldn’t be taller than me?’, he narrowed his eyes.

She smiled. ‘Women have to take care of details like that.’

Diggle was watching them with a very judgmental raised eyebrow, so she shook her head and straightened her back.

‘Come on, we have a job to do.’ Deadshot opened the door for her and once inside, they spent the next 20 minutes setting up the communication links and going over the plan one more time.

○○○

Before they went inside the mansion, Felicity hacked into the security feed, giving Diggle full access to it. John pretty much forbidden them to turn off their comms. Felicity was okay with that, and Deadshot didn’t comment.

The moment they stepped out of the car, Felicity visibly saw Deadshot flip a switch. He helped her out of the car, gingerly taking her hand. He guided her with a hand on her back, he smiled and patiently waited by her side through the registration process, and when that was done, he extended his elbow for her, with a soft smile on his face.

When they finally entered the main room where the party was taking place, he took a few seconds to look around the room, probably counting the exit routes and security, Felicity’s mind supplied, but when he turned back to her, he smiled, once again looking at ease.

‘I’ll go get us drinks, you should go and handle the check.’

‘Of course’, Felicity nodded, taking her hand away from his grip.

‘You want a glass of red wine, right?’

Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘Is that really relevant enough information for your boss to include in my file?’

Lawton chuckled. ‘Nope. I asked John on the way to your place.’ At her raised eyebrow, he winked at her. ‘Men need to know these details.’ Then, he was heading for the bar.

Felicity took a deep breath and headed towards the woman who was collecting the checks. This was going to be a long night.

○○○

When Lawton returned with the drinks, things were awkward and silent for a few good minutes. Felicity saw that the man was growing more and more frustrated with each minute that passed, but she didn’t say anything, she didn’t know what to say.

He was the one to snap.

‘Aren’t you going to ask?’

‘Ask what?’, she frowned.

‘Why I am doing this? Working where I am, doing what I do.’

‘No’, she shook her head. ‘I’m not. I asked John the last time you two worked together, and he told me about Zoe.’

Deadshot flinched at that, visibly, so Felicity was quick to explain.

‘He shouldn’t have told me, but I-‘

‘No, it’s not that.’, Lawton shook his head. ‘Sorry, it’s an involuntary reaction, really. I try to keep her as secret as possible, so that she’s safe. I know you’re trustworthy.’

That made Felicity pause and bite her lip.

‘If I were to ask you something, I’d ask you what got you started into the business in the first place.’

‘I wouldn’t tell you that.’, he tilted his head, after a beat.

‘Figured as much.’, she smiled. ‘You know, I… Permission to speak freely, sir?’

‘Miss Smoak, I wasn’t in the military’, he snorts. ‘But go ahead.’

She regards him for a few seconds, taking a sip of her wine. ‘I won’t say I’m not judging you, because I am. For your decisions and for doing whatever you did to get you here.’

His smile fell at that, but he didn’t seem mad of her direct approach, so she continued, absently putting a hand on his forearm.

‘I have to do that, because I still remember how much it hurt when my father left. But I also think that death is the easy way out. So you, being part of the Squad…’, she shrugged. ‘I think you’re doing the right thing, for once. And I respect you, because you’re still taking care of Zoe, however you can. That’s important.’

They looked at each other for a few seconds, until he sighed and looked down at where her hand was still resting on his arm. He took Felicity’s hand and intertwined their fingers together, letting their arms fall loosely between them. She didn’t say anything, nor did she move away. They were supposed to look like they were on a date, and Felicity already saw three different QC board members regarding them curiously.

‘What the hell are you doing with the Arrow?’, he asked, and he didn't sound judgmental at all, but genuinely curious.

Felicity smiled. ‘John says I’m irreplaceable. Oliver says I’m his partner. I say that once I knew the truth, I couldn’t walk out.’

Deadshot seemed to consider this.

‘When Waller gave me your file’, he said, getting closer to her so that he could whisper, ‘she warned me that you’re important.’

‘Important for what?’

He shook his head slowly. ‘Important to him. And that he is important to you.’

‘Obviously’, Felicity frowned after a beat of silence. ‘We wouldn’t have … pulled through everything that happened if we didn’t care about each other.’

‘That’s not what I meant and I you know it.’, he smiled, throwing her a pointed look. ‘And it would explain some things.’

‘Like what?’, she asked, weary of the answer.

‘Like The Count.’, he squeezed her hand. ‘Like why you’re his EA, even though you're overly qualified. Like how he came running to my boss, but only after Deathstroke got you in a car accident. Like how overprotective he is. And how you’re still by his side.’

Felicity smiled. ‘You’re over thinking it. Most people do. It’s not like that.’

‘Are you sure?’, he insisted, with a playful smile on his face. ‘Are you reaaaaally sure?’

‘Oh yeah’, she chuckled. ‘Positive. Plus, it’s not important. Not in the grand scheme of things.’

‘But what about _your_ grand scheme of things?’

Felicity hesitated. ‘Not to be rude, but how is that your business?’

Deadshot shook his head and slowly let go of her hand. ‘It’s not. I was just genuinely curious. Because I don’t understand why someone as smart as you would put yourself in these kind of positions, surrounded by pretentious assholes’, he smiled. ‘But also, in the dangerous messes you always end up in.’

‘So what?’, she chuckled. ‘Love and lust was the only reason you came up with?’

‘Not the only one, but the strongest one.’

‘In my grand scheme of things’, she told him in a straight voice, ‘I make my own choices based on my own reasons. And you don’t get to hear them. Especially not when you’ll just report them to Miss Waller. Whom I still don’t know that much about.’

‘Fair enough’, Lawton smiled after a few seconds. ‘Shall we dance?’

Felicity laughed. ‘Yes we should. If not, my whole office building will hear of it tomorrow.’

‘How so?’, Lawton frowned, but took her hand and guided her to the dance floor nonetheless.

‘There’s QC board members that have been staring at me since we got here.’

‘Oh. I thought they were staring because you look amazing.’ As he said this, he put a hand on her waist and lifted their hands by their side. She quickly took his lead, bringing her other hand on his shoulder. They danced for a couple of songs, pressed closely together. But Felicity happily noted that Lawton kept his hands for himself, and that he was a perfect gentleman, even if they were practically breathing each other’s air.

After the first song, he gently moved their hands between them, resting them on his chest. His cheek was pressed to her hair and all she could smell around her was his cologne.

‘Felicity, everything alright?’, Oliver’s gruff voice came through the comm., startling her. Lawton quickly laughed and twirled them around, to conceal her yelp.

‘Everything’s fine, boss’, Lawton said, arranging them so that they were looking at each other. For someone on the outside, it would’ve looked like they were talking to each other.

‘Where are you?’, she sighed.

‘The Foundry.’, Oliver answered, and Felicity heard the scowl on his face.

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m done with everything else. I read the speech, cut the ribbon, made an appearance at the party. Done. How are you two doing?’

‘Patiently waiting for an opportunity.’, Felicity sighed.

‘You’ll get that in about 15 minutes’, Diggle’s voice came through. ‘The guards are changing shifts then and there’s going to be a 10 minute frame for you to get in and out.’

‘Perfect.’, Lawton said. ‘Ready, blondie?’

She dug her nails into the back of his neck, just as Oliver growled over the comms.

‘I dye it’, is what she finally said, enjoying seeing the annoyed looks in his eyes.

○○○

16 minutes later, they were in Charlie Manner’s personal office, copying the files needed. Felicity felt sick, seeing pictures of his victims. But she pushed that down and did her job.

There was 1 minute left of the download, when Diggle’s alarmed voice came through.

‘There’s a guard coming your way. I don’t know why.’

‘ETA?’, Felicity asked.

‘1 minute.’

She looked up at Lawton, who was watching her calmly.

’30 seconds left. We don’t have time to make it out.’

‘Okay’, he nodded, lifting his foot on a chair and grabbing the gun he had there.

‘No no no’, she hissed at him. ‘You are not shooting anybody, get your foot down.’

‘What do you suggest we do?’, he asked, sarcastically.

The download ended then, and she quickly grabbed the memory stick and pushed it in her clutch.

‘Come here.’ She said, urgently enough that Deadshot listened, making his way towards her side of the desk. ‘We got this, Digg’, Felicity told him, as she pushed Lawton until his ass hit the edge of the desk, quickly using her heels to pull his feet apart, slotting herself between them.

‘Go with it’, she whispered against his lips, kissing him just as they heard footsteps outside the door. Lawton quickly responded, and before she even realized it, his fingertips were digging bruises on her hips and his tongue was clashing with hers. One of her hands came up to the back of his neck, pulling at his hair. He took the hint and calmed down a bit, still kissing her intently, but it was softer, less bruising.

He bit on her lower lip just as they heard the door open.

‘You’re not supposed to be here’, a bored security guard said, as Felicity scrambled to get away from Lawton’s hold.

‘Sorry man’, he said, wiping his thumb on his lips. Then he turned towards her, taking a hold of her hand and grinning cheekily. ‘I think it’s time we got going, don’t you, love?’

‘We should’, Felicity nodded, ducking her head. She knew she was blushing, and Lawton saw it clearly, by the look he gave her.

They were silent on the way to the car, where Diggle was waiting for them.

‘Everything alright?’, he asked as he helped Felicity into the car.

‘Yup, we got what we needed.’

Once in the car, Deadshot untied his bowtie and winked at her. Felicity raised an eyebrow.

‘Don’t let it get to your head.’, she told him.

‘Never, Miss Smoak’, he grinned, making Felicity choke on a laugh.

○○○

The drive back to the Foundry was silent, and when they got there, Oliver and Amanda Waller were waiting for them.

Felicity wordlessly handed her the memory stick, and promptly began to take off her shoes.

Waller watched her for a few seconds, before turning to Deadshot.

‘Is it done?’

‘Yes, ma’am’, he answered, hands in his pockets and oozing boredom. ‘There was a slight mishap with a security guard towards the end, but Miss Smoke handled it perfectly.’

There was a glint in his eyes, and Felicity glared.

‘I expect a full report.’, Waller said, making Felicity freeze.

She looked back towards Lawton, who was watching her with an amused expression.

‘Well that’s gonna be awkward’, she whispered to him.

There was a pause. Then, they both started laughing, much to everyone’s shock. Diggle and Oliver were both frowning at Felicity, and Waller was watching her with a raised eyebrow. 

‘It was a pleasure working with you, Miss Smoak’, Lawton said, still chuckling.

‘Just stop’, she groaned. ‘Go, please, and don’t come back too soon.’

‘Take care of yourself, Felicity’, he said oddly soft, making her look up in shock. There was a small smile playing on his lips, and his eye moved to Oliver a fraction of a second. ‘And figure out what’s really important, will you? It’s a shame to not have all that you deserve.’

She swallowed hard, her throat feeling very dry all of a sudden. ‘I’ll keep an eye out for Zoe.’

Deadshot just smiled and tilted his head, waving at Oliver and Diggle, throwing them an impersonal _see ya_ , following Waller out the door.

‘What was that about?’, Oliver came over to her, frowning.

Felicity shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter’, she smiled.

Oliver kept frowning, and she hooked her pinky finger with his, trying to get him to unwind.

‘How did you get out of the office?’, John asked.

‘I’d rather not talk about it’, she chuckled, blinking rapidly. ‘But I kissed him and the guard just let us leave.’

‘Are you insane?’, Oliver hissed, intertwining their fingers properly.

Felicity grinned. ‘Probably. But it worked, so it really doesn’t matter. We should keep the tactic in mind, though. You know, for the next time we’re caught in that particular situation.’

She figured out exactly what she said a fraction of a second later, and she blushed furiously, but Oliver was smiling at her, still holding on to her hand. She couldn’t help but smile back.

‘How about some burgers? Some Big Belly would do me good right about now.’, she sighed, wistfully.

‘Aren’t you a bit too dressed up for a diner?’, Oliver smirked, squeezing her hand.

‘Says the guy who’s gonna be standing next to me in an Armani tux.’

Oliver didn’t respond, just made his way towards the steps, tugging on Felicity’s hand to make her follow him.

Diggle didn’t say anything, but Felicity still caught the way he rolled his eyes. It made her giggle.


	20. how Thea saw them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _olicity through some of the other characters eyes_

Thea barely remembers the first time she saw Felicity Smoak. They were in the hospital, happy that Walter came home safely. All she remembers is a flash of blonde hair and too bright pink lips, and Oliver and Walter’s rushed explanations.

Days later, she remembers that she asked Oliver about her, boldly telling him that blondes aren’t really his type. She vividly remembers his reaction, eyes wide and small smile on his face. He denied anything, insisted that it wasn’t like that with Felicity, that she was just a friend. Thea nodded along, humoring him, and she quickly forgot all about Felicity Smoak.

Until the Undertaking. Or rather, after it.

Thea saw her at Tommy’s funeral. She wouldn’t have recognized her, if it wasn’t for the way Oliver took a deep breath and absently squeezed her hand, just a few minutes after the funeral started. When she looked over at him, Oliver was looking intently at the other side of the cemetery. Felicity was standing near a tree, in a black dress and a black blazer, her pink lipstick taking Thea’s mind away from the horribleness of the situation for a fraction of a second.

She smiled at Oliver, holding his eyes for a few seconds. He didn’t say anything, but after that, Thea saw how Oliver held himself a little stronger, head a little higher.

Felicity didn’t come to speak to him when the funeral ended, but she came closer, putting a single white rose on Tommy’s coffin. Oliver excused himself and went to her. She instantly put a hand on his arm as soon as he was close enough, and Oliver seemed to relax. They were standing close, too close for them to be just friends, talking in hush tones. He was the one doing most of the talking, and she seemed mad by whatever he was saying. But after a while, she sighed deeply and nodded, rising on her toes and kissing his cheek. Felicity left, and Oliver didn’t say anything when he returned to Thea’s side. She didn’t ask.

And then, Oliver was gone. For five months, he was gone. With barely a ‘goodbye’, no explanation, he was just gone.

Thea took over the club, and focused on that and on her relationship with Roy, ignoring her mother’s existence. She still saw Felicity, though. She’d be at Verdant every now and then, in jeans and t-shirts, sometimes in colorful skirts. She looked very out of place, always sitting at the bar doing something on her tablet, drinking coffee and brushing off all the men who talked to her. The bartenders told Thea that Felicity always asked about her, but they never talked directly. Thea didn’t dwell on it.

When Oliver came back from Europe, he took his place as CEO of QC, and that’s when Thea officially met Felicity. Oliver introduced her as his Executive Assistant and the first thing Thea told her was that she looked amazing.

And she did, with her hair down, a dark purple dress and high heels. She blushed and stammered out a thank you, while Oliver just frowned at Thea. Felicity then went on a rant about rude people who work in retail but who immediately turn lovely when they see a credit card. Thea laughed at that, out loud, but Oliver kept frowning.

Later that night, Thea asked her brother about Felicity again. ‘I thought she worked in IT’, was all she said. And Oliver, well, his reaction surprised Thea. He sighed, and it looked like he was defeated, but he explained that Felicity is the only one in that company that he trusts, and that he needs someone like that by his side, now more than ever. ‘She’s not so bad on the eyes either’, Thea added, curious of her brother’s reaction to that. Oliver frowned, and started thinking out loud, about making sure that she gets a raise, because changing her wardrobe like that wasn’t going to be cheap. Thea regarded him for a few seconds, then realized she wasn’t going to get more of an answer out of him. So she smiled and walked away.  

Thea saw a lot more of Felicity after that. She’d always be by Oliver’s side, smiling politely, but saying inappropriate things when she’d open her mouth. Oliver seemed exasperated and a little amused, but Thea loved it. She laughed when Felicity would blush, but in fact, Felicity surprised her, because Oliver seemed more light around her. He’d smile and roll his eyes, and Thea would see sparks of the playful older brother she grew up with.

It was interesting for Thea, to see how they interacted. When they’d talk business, they were always professional and invested, but it was like they couldn’t help themselves, making small jokes or teasing each other. And Oliver would always touch her, a hand on her back to guide her through the room, a squeeze on the arm for confirmation, something, however small, but Oliver would always acknowledge Felicity with small touches. He wasn’t that tactile before the island, Thea knew this.

She thought they were sleeping together. It was something Oliver would do, and even though she thought Felicity was smarter than that, it was clear she cared about him. So when Oliver told her, one night, that Felicity would be spending the night because they had work to do, Thea thought that would be it, that Oliver finally decided to tell her that he was dating his EA.

They surprised her again. Felicity didn’t come in some expensive dress and over the top makeup, but in a pair of knee-high shorts and a Spider-Man t-shirt, bringing them burgers and milk-shakes. They all ate together at the kitchen island, and Thea quickly understood that they really were planning on pulling an all-nighter, working on things for the very important board meeting that they had in the morning. Felicity even brought work clothes to change into before heading for the office.

Before Thea left for the club, Felicity was sitting on the couch in the living room, legs crossed and several tablets in front of her. Oliver was sitting on the other end of the couch, surrounded by papers and folders, bare feet on the coffee table, eternal frown on his face. There both had cups of coffee near them, and a six pack of redbull was already opened on the coffee table. Felicity was reading something out loud from one of the tablets, absently running her hands through her hair, and Oliver was watching her, his eyes skipping to her hair every now and then. Thea kissed her brother goodbye and told Felicity where the good cookies were in the kitchen. She grinned, while Oliver shook his head.

When Thea came back hours later, just in time to have breakfast with them, Oliver and Felicity were asleep. Oliver was in the same position Thea left him, with his feet crossed on the coffee table, head to the side, on the couch’s back rest. Felicity was curled up in a ball next to him, but not quite touching. She was sleeping with her hands under her undone hair, and one of Oliver’s hands was resting close to her curls, like he wanted to touch but thought better of it.

Thea took a picture of them, because it was a very rare sight, Oliver sleeping so peacefully. She knew he had nightmares, and she knew waking him up was going to be tricky. So Thea connected her ipod to the sound system, softly playing some jazz their mother used to listen when she and Oliver were little.

He was the first one to wake up, blinking slowly and quickly looking around. He relaxed when he realized where he was, closing his eyes again and popping his neck. Felicity groaned next to him, and Oliver was wide awake in seconds, much to Thea’s amusement. He looked down at Felicity, watching as she slowly stood up, yawning and stretching her hands above her head, causing her t-shirt to ride up. Oliver blinked slowly at the skin it exposed, and Thea fought back a snort.

‘Coffee’, Felicity mumbled, rubbing at her eyes. ‘And lipstick.’

Oliver smiled fondly at her, because she was pretty adorable, Thea thought. In her super hero t-shirt, with her hair tangled and frown on her face.

‘Good thing you have your priorities straightened out’, Oliver teased, finally getting up and stretching his back. He extended a hand towards Felicity and she took it, both of them making their way towards the kitchen. Thea ate breakfast with them, struggling not to comment on how Oliver was the one who made coffee for Felicity. She used a spare bathroom to get ready for work, and when she was done, Felicity looked really good, you wouldn’t have guessed she spent the night on a couch. She was wearing a white and gray dress, high heels and her makeup was perfect, pink lips included. Oliver smiled, but didn’t say anything and Thea was left wondering about just how many things Oliver doesn’t say out loud.

When Oliver left in the middle of their mother’s trial, Thea was mad beyond belief. But he looked broken, and scared, and she didn’t get to comment on it, because the jury came back. But late at night, when the tv was on and she saw that Felicity was kidnapped by the Count, and that the Arrow killed him, Thea understood. She understood why Oliver left quickly after Moira got released, and why he came back looking tired, why he left every other hour to call someone, coming back a little bit better, a little but stronger, more put together. Thea knew Felicity was important to Oliver, that much was clear. But that was the moment she understood just how important she was. She wasn’t just his EA, or just his friend. No, Felicity was Oliver’s rock. He needed her.

When Moira Queen was released from prison, she didn’t comment when she realized Felicity was pretty much glued to Oliver’s side. At least not to him. She asked Thea about it, and she told her the truth: that there clearly was something there, but they’re really not involved like that. Moira raised a curious eyebrow, to which Thea shrugged. ‘You’ll figure it out eventually, mom’, she told her, and that was that.

Everything was fine.

Until it wasn’t, until Thea realized that something was wrong between Oliver and their mother. Until Slade was kidnapping her and telling her the truth.

Until she saw her mother die in front of her.

Thea doesn’t remember a lot. But she knows that it was Felicity who managed to take her from the body. And she remembers Oliver’s screams, muffled into Felicity’s neck.

She didn’t see either of them, till the funeral. She barely saw anybody, but John Diggle made sure to let her know he will be picking her up in time to go to the cemetery. But Felicity was waiting by the car. She didn’t say she was sorry for her loss, which Thea was grateful for. Instead, she started rattling on details for the funeral, in her EA voice.

‘Where’s Oliver?’, Thea asked when she got a chance to speak.

Felicity sighed, and her professional mask fell from her face, revealing fear and pain. ‘I don’t know’, is what she said. ‘But I’m working on it.’

Oliver wasn’t there, for the funeral or the wake. But then he was, saying goodbye and hugging her tightly.

And then the city was on fire. And there were men in masks everywhere. And Felicity was there, when one of them tried to take Thea. She was there when the Arrow saved her.

Felicity was there, pushing Thea into a car, checking her for injuries. Diggle was driving fast, so fast, Arrow riding his bike next to them.

Thea didn’t understand what was happening, why they were at Verdant, why they were going to the basement. But Felicity was there.

She was there when Oliver revealed himself to be the Arrow. She was there when Thea screamed, and cried and yelled, throwing punches at his brother’s chest, covered in green leather. She was there when he didn’t say anything, didn’t try to keep her away.

Felicity was there when Thea managed to calm down. But she didn’t come to her. No, Felicity made her way to Oliver’s side, taking his hand in hers and kissing his temple.

‘I don’t know what to do’, Oliver said then, looking at Thea, only at Thea. And Felicity surprised Thea once again, by putting Oliver’s hood back on his head.

‘We’ll figure it out.’, she said, with conviction, finally making Oliver to look at her. She gently wiped his tears away and smiled. ‘We’ll figure out a way to defeat Slade. One that doesn’t involve you dying, or running away. I promise.’

Oliver shook his head and opened his mouth to say something, but Felicity didn’t let him.

‘No’, she said, running her fingers over Oliver’s lips. ‘No, you are not dying and you are not going back there. Now we need you to focus, put yourself together.’ She smiled. ‘Go hug your sister, while I call Star Labs.’

And Oliver did just that. He hugged Thea tightly, but when she pulled away, she didn’t tell him meaningless love declarations. No, what she asked her brother was just how much Felicity did for him.

Oliver looked taken aback and shocked, but recovered quickly enough. ‘More than I do for her.’ And then, Felicity was there, once again, rattling off information about a cure and about someone called Waller and Thea was lost.

But she stood there, by his brother’s side, in the Arrow’s secret lair under Verdant. She stood there, by Roy’s unconscious body, while they were all away, fighting off super soldiers in weird masks.

And Thea was there, when Oliver and Diggle returned, happily announcing that they dealt with Slade’s army. She was there when Oliver got a call from Slade, when he found out that he took Felicity. Thea was there, when he screamed and yelled, when he broke the glass case he kept the hood in. Thea was there, when Diggle had to physically restrain him.

And she was there for the hours that followed. She was there when Oliver went mad in anger and fear. Thea was there, seeing her brother shaking and taking deep breaths every other minute, never stopping in his searches. They looked everywhere, they called the police, they called Laurel and her father.

And Thea was there, when Oliver found out Slade had Felicity on the island, that hell of an island. And that was the point when Oliver broke down. When he started crying, clutching at his chest, breathing heavily. When he started saying words, in Chinese and in Russian, when he clutched to Thea’s hands in despair.

When they left for the island, with Diggle and two men she didn’t know, in military gear, calling themselves by nicknames, Thea went with them. She had to fight Oliver for it, but she convinced him by grabbing his bow and hitting straight at the people around them, intentionally missing every time.

Thea’s was there for the long ride to the island. Incredibly long hours spent on a plane, surrounded by strangers. And Oliver’s a dead weight by her side, eyes closed and fists clenched. So she grabbed his hand, forcefully intertwining their fingers and she boldly asked the guy with an eye patch that was standing in front of her, ‘So who are you and how come you’re here?’.

That makes Oliver open his eyes and frown down at her.

And the guy smirked, told her his name’s Lawton, but his code name’s Deadshot, that he was responsible for killing Diggle’s brother, and he rattled a few other names she didn't know, and then he tells her that he works for Argus now, for the good guys, and that his boss was responsible for Slade being on the island in the first place, so it’s only fair she helps catch him.

‘You don’t even know Felicity’, she breathed out.

‘I met her once, in Russia.’, he shrugged. ‘She sends me cds from time to time.’

‘What’, Oliver growled, tightening his hold on Thea’s hand, as Diggle made his way to stand next to them.

Deadshot smirked up at him. ‘After the last mission I had with John, she started sending me cds with pictures and videos of my kid. Said that I deserved it and that it was the least she could do to thank me.’

Diggle swore, and Oliver closed his eyes again. Thea didn’t know what to say, so she just looked at how Deadshot was cleaning his weapons for the rest of the way.

Thea was there, when they surrounded Slade on the island. She was there, when Lawton shot him with the cure, when Slade still fought. She was there, when Oliver punched him over and over again, demanding to know where Felicity is. She was there when Lawton and Turner tried to help him, but Diggle didn’t let them get close. She tried to shoot an arrow at Slade, but Diggle didn’t let her.

‘He needs to do this’, was all he said, and Thea let down her bow.

When Slade finally talked, Oliver froze completely.

‘She’s at the last place you fucked Shado.’, he spat out. 

Oliver took a step back then, looking down at his hands, covered in Slade's blood. He raised a hand towards Thea, and she slowly walked to him, giving him the bow and an arrow.

‘Look away, Thea’, he told her gruffly, as he raised the bow and fixed the arrow.

‘You sure you wanna do that, man?’, Thea heard Deadshot take a step forward. ‘Waller said to bring him alive.’

‘I don’t care what Waller said’, Oliver spat out, not once moving his eyes from Slade. ‘If he’s alive, she’ll want him to work with you. Do you really want that?’

Deadshot took a step back, but he grabbed Thea’s arm and took her with him. He turned her around, so that she was facing him, but he was looking past her shoulder, at Oliver.

‘I’ve killed a lot of people’, he was saying. ‘You taught me how to. And I was grateful for it. I am so sorry for what I did to you. It’s my fault you’re like this.’

Slade was oddly silent, but Oliver went on.

‘I lived with that until now. And I’ll live with it from now on. I’ll gladly live with your blood on my hands, because you are the only person I ever knew that truly deserved dying by my arrows. I’m glad it happens here, where it all started. Because you shouldn’t have left this island in the first place.’

Thea didn’t hear the arrow, just Slade’s body hitting the ground. Then Oliver passed her, running towards the woods, and Thea quickly followed, vaguely aware of Diggle running behind her.

Thea was there, when Oliver reached the water, when he saw Felicity standing on a rock. Her hands and feet were tied and there was tape on her mouth. She was crying, they were able to hear her sobs even before they saw her.

When Oliver reached her, he didn’t cut the ropes. He just fell in front of her, knees on either side of her legs. He took the tape off and hugged her, tightly, fisting his hands in her hair.

They were both crying, but they didn’t speak. None of them did. Diggle slowly made his way towards them, cutting off the rope, moving around Oliver.

The second her hands were free, Felicity brought them up on Oliver’s back, desperately clutching at the leather. She started crying even harder then, and Oliver started kissing her, desperately, her hair, her forehead, her eyes, her nose, everything he could reach.

‘There’s so much blood’, was the first thing Felicity said, pushing Oliver away a little, so that she could look at his hands.

‘It’s his’, Oliver pushed out, clutching her hands in his, bringing them to his chest.

‘Did you kill him?’, Felicity bit her lip.

Oliver nodded and she just shook his head and hugged him again.

Minutes later, after they both stopped crying, after they managed to push away from each other, Oliver helping Felicity up, but not letting go of her hand, Felicity finally looked up.

She smiled broadly at Diggle, widened her eyes at Deadshot and Tiger, and when her eyes fell on Thea, she froze and tugged on Oliver’s hand.

‘Why is Thea carrying your quiver?’, she shrieked. ‘Why is Thea here?’

And Thea just laughed and ran to her, hugging her tightly. But Oliver still didn’t let go of Felicity’s hand. He didn’t, not until they landed safely back in Starling.

Thea knew how important Felicity was to Oliver. She knew because of how he smiled at her, touched her unnecessarily, how he went out of his way to make her laugh. Because of how he listened to her and took her advice. She knew because of the flowers he’d give her with no reason, because of how he’d hold her hand and kiss her. She knew because she saw him making her coffee in the morning, and he’d never smile wider than that.

But Felicity was important to the Arrow, too. And that made it fun for Thea, seeing Oliver kissing Felicity dressed in full Arrow gear, or watching them talk about their next date, while he was sharpening his arrows.

And well, Thea was happy for them. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a bet going on with Diggle, about who was going to propose to Felicity: Oliver or the Arrow.


	21. We'll still love you in the morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [manny-arr](http://manny-arr.tumblr.com) asked: _Future!Fic, Pregnant Felicity, crazy middle-of-the-night cravings. Oliver obliges, fluff ensues._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: not as fluffy as you might thing. _sorry_

When Oliver wakes up, he knows it’s the middle of the night. His internal clock has gotten pretty accurate since he returned from the island, but he opens his eyes to check. The clock on the bedside table blinks 3 am, and Felicity isn’t next to him.

He gets out of bed quickly, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and putting them over his boxers. He makes his way slowly through the dark apartment, but he sees the light on in the kitchen, and he hears Felicity singing along to the radio. That calms him down, because a singing Felicity means that nothing is wrong.

He doesn’t want her to know he’s there, not just yet, so he quietly leans against the doorway, silently watching his wife. She’s making cupcakes. He sees the empty eggshells, the flour bag, the sugar and the cocoa. He sees the dirty cupcake tray and the freshly baked chocolate cupcakes.  

And he sees Felicity. Barefoot, her toe nails painted yellow. Wearing just a pair of panties and a tank top. Her hair up in a messy bun, glasses firmly in place.

She’s beautiful, as beautiful as she ever was, and it makes Oliver smile. But he can’t look away from her belly. She’s six months pregnant, her belly getting in the way of her frosting the cupcakes. She’s frowning down at cupcake in her hand, her lips are in a thin line and her tongue’s sticking out in one side.

It warms Oliver’s heart, that Felicity is his, his friend, his partner, his wife. He still can’t believe she’s his wife. Two years later, and he still has moments when he can’t believe she said ‘yes’, when he has to check if she's wearing a wedding ring. And now, she’s carrying his baby. His unborn baby boy, that moves every time Oliver talks to him, that makes Felicity crave sweets and oranges. That made Felicity feel sick for weeks, that makes her back ache and it keeps growing, he keeps growing.

Their baby.

Oliver swallows down the lump that always forms in his throat when he thinks about his family and how far they’ve come, and he makes his way towards his wife. Felicity smiles at him, but doesn’t stop frosting her cupcakes.

He stands behind her, hooking his chin over her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her body, resting his palms on her belly. The tank top is stretched at its limits, over it, so he gently lifts it up, humming when his skin touches hers.

‘I’m sorry I woke you up.’, Felicity whispers, turning her head around slightly.

Oliver presses his lips to her temples, still smiling.

‘You didn’t wake me. You not being there woke me.’ She smiled at that.

‘Were you craving cupcakes again? Or were you craving cookies and were too lazy to make some?’

‘Cupcakes’, she grins.

‘You already ate three’, Oliver noted, counting the empty cupcake wrappers. ‘Come back to bed?’

Felicity nods and finishes up frosting the last cupcake, putting it neatly near the others.

‘I’ll clean up tomorrow’, she says around a yawn, putting her hands over Oliver’s.

They hold hands while they slowly make their way to the bedroom, Oliver taking his pants off before getting in the bed. Felicity doesn’t pull down her tank top, and she sleeps on the left side, like she always does these days. Oliver wraps himself around her, as best as he can, but he makes sure his hand is resting on her belly.

‘He’s still kicking’, he whispers close to Felicity’s ear, smiling still. She shivers and Oliver pulls himself even closer.

‘He’ll fall asleep soon enough’, she whispers back. ‘Go to sleep, daddy.’

Oliver’s heart skips a beat at that, and she knows it, she feels it somehow, just like she always does. Because she knows, she knows him, how much it means to him, to build a family, after he spent years thinking he didn’t deserve it. After he spent years thinking he didn't deserve her.

‘Go to sleep’, she repeats, putting her hand over his, over their son. ‘We’ll still love you in the morning.’

○▲Δ▲○

When Oliver wakes up, he’s in his bed, in his room at the Queen mansion. He’s breathing heavily and there’s sweat sweeping through his t-shirt. It’s not the first time he dreamt about Felicity, but it was never like this.

He takes a deep breath, willing the dream away. He puts on a suit drives to work, and he makes sure to smile when he sees Felicity at her desk.

But throughout the day, he can’t stop looking at her belly. And she’s wearing one of his [favorite dresses](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s504fg1yG6Q/Ul_olxHnZHI/AAAAAAAAZCg/Q2YUWOprlQc/s1600/felicitycolorblockdress.png), the gray and black one, with two bright orange squares on her hips, and with a black belt. And his attention is drawn to her stomach, and he can’t help but remember his dream.

How real it all was, feeling his baby move under his fingertips, her hot skin touching his. How happy he felt, with her in his arms, how in love he was. How he felt accomplished and at ease.

And that made it hard for Oliver to get through the day. He had to calm his breathing more than once, he clenched his fist every time Felicity was close to him and he could not stop looking.

But of course she noticed. So when they were having lunch, just Felicity and him in his office, that’s when she smiled and asked him, as nonchalantly as ever:

‘Is there a reason you keep looking at my tummy? I haven’t put on that much weight, in fact, I even lost some in the past weeks, since I started training with Digg.’

Oliver freezes for a few seconds, but then he takes a deep breath and smiles at her.

‘Do you want kids?’

It was Felicity’s turn to freeze. She puts down her coffee and straightens her back, crossing her legs and watching him with an analyzing eye. Then, she looks away, to the windows, and talks in a soft voice.

‘I always said I wanted one kid. Just one, that’s it. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle more than one baby and I always thought that if I’d have more than one, it would be hard for me to love them equally. And if you don’t love your kids equally, then you’re a bad parent, and I really don’t want to be a bad parent.’, she frowns.

‘But then I met you, and honestly, seeing you and Thea…’, she shakes her head. ‘I’m a only child, but seeing you two…’ She looks at him then, and she grins. ‘Yeah, I want kids. At least two. But I don’t want to rush it. I want to be in a good place, financially, emotionally, physically, and I want to be with a good man.’

She laughs. ‘By the looks of things, it’s not going to happen any time soon.’

When Oliver doesn’t say anything, Felicity puts a hand over his, where it was resting on the desk.

‘Is something wrong?’, she asks, and Oliver can see her concern, it’s written all over her face.

‘I dreamt about you last night’, he says, making her freeze. Her eyes grow wide and she seems to stop breathing.

‘You were pregnant and you were beautiful, as beautiful as ever.’, he smiles. ‘And I just… I don’t know.’

Felicity doesn’t let go of his hand, but she doesn’t say anything either. For a couple of long seconds, Felicity just looks at him, blinking fast.

‘Who’, her voice breaks so she starts again. ‘Who was I pregnant with? Who was the father.’

‘I don’t think I’m ready to tell you that.’, Oliver says, but he can’t look at her, he’s looking at their hands, at her dark blue nailpolish and simple gold rings.

Felicity squeezes his hand, making him look up.

She smiles. ‘Do you think you’ll ever be ready to tell me?’

It takes him a few seconds, bet eventually, Oliver nods.

Felicity lightens up completely, smiling broadly and chuckling.

‘I’ll be here waiting.’

And that is what makes Oliver realize that maybe that dream is possible. Maybe that future isn’t as far away as he thought.


	22. Smoak vs. Winchesters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _arrow/supernatural crossover with felicity somehow knowing the boys even before oliver came into the picture:p_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how Ash went to MIT, before he got kicked out for being in a fight?   
> Set somewhere during 2x8-2x9, Arrow-verse

It’s the first time in forever that Felicity was late for work. She got in the office 20 minutes late, and that was only because a water pipe broke in her bathroom, exploded really, and she had to deal with that. She texted Oliver and let him know, so she wasn’t worried about that.

But once she actually got to her desk, and saw that Oliver was in his office with two men, and saw how stiff he and Diggle were, that got her very worried, very fast. Felicity checked the security camera feed in the office, and when she saw the two men Oliver was discussing with, her heart dropped. Felicity recognized them, and she gasped, making her way to his office before she realized what she was doing.

All the men in the room turned to her when she walked in, but that was probably because the door shut with a loud clank behind her.

‘Felicity, something wrong?’, Oliver frowned.

‘No, of course not, what could possibly be wrong?’, she muttered, making her way towards his chair.

‘Gentlemen, this is-‘, Oliver started introducing her, but Felicity shushed him, very rudely, pushing his chair away from the computer.

‘Wait a bit’, she whispered at his shocked expression, quickly hitting a few buttons on his keypad. The landline rang a second letter, and Felicity picked up the phone, knowing it would be security.

‘No, Ben, that was me. I need to upgrade something and I need the RAM at full capacity so-. Yeah, sorry, you know I love my tech talk. But yes, everything is fine, I’ll get the cameras on soon enough, promise.’

When she hung up, Oliver was watching her with a fairly concerned expression. But he straightened out and got off of his chair, standing next to her and putting a hand on her lower back.

‘Felicity, these are Agents Rogers and Banner from the FBI.’

She stared at them, then promptly snorted.

‘Really?’, she lifted an unimpressed eyebrow, much to everyone’s surprise. ‘Like Captain America and the Hulk?’

The two men shared a look.

‘What?’, Oliver frowns, and Felicity turns to him, pouting.

‘Really, Oliver? You still haven’t watched Avengers? Still?! You’re hopeless.’ she sighed. ‘And they’re not FBI.’

‘Miss, we’re-’, the taller one of them started saying, but she interrupted him with a stern look.

‘No. You’re not FBI, you’re hunters.’, she turned to Oliver, a sympathetic look in her eyes. ‘And when I say hunters, I don’t mean like dears or bears and stuff. I mean werewolves and djins and demons.’

‘Have you been drinking?’, Oliver said, frowning and looking concerned, getting closer to her still.

‘No’, she sighed and put a comforting hand on his arm, turning towards the two men.

‘You’re Sam and Dean Winchester. I’d say I’m glad to meet you, but I’m not. What are you hunting?’

The brothers looked at her for a long moment, and she tried her best not to back down, staring back at them. They shared a final look, and it was Dean who spoke.

‘Do we know each other?’

‘No’, Felicity smiled. ‘But I do know of you.’

‘How?’, Dean insisted, and Felicity saw that his hand was on the gun hosted on his belt.

‘I knew Ash’, she said softly, and saw both of the Winchesters freeze at that, their tough exterior crumbling for a second, but she continued her explanation, taking a small step away from Oliver, who was seconds away from putting himself in front of her.

‘We met each other at MIT. He was my best friend, and we kept in touch after he was kicked out of school. I visited him once, at Ellen’s diner. There was an issue with some vampires while I was there.’

‘Vampires?’, she hears Diggle whisper incredulously, as he slowly makes his way towards her, standing by the other side of the desk. She’s basically between him and Oliver now, both of them standing in very protective stands, and there’s a desk between her and the Winchesters. Who, by the look of their faces, still don’t believe her. So she faced them again and straightened her back.

‘After that, after I saw it first hand, it was easier for me to get my head around it. And because Ash was…’, she sighed. ‘Because Ash was Ash, and you know how much he cared about the people around him, he didn’t let me leave without a flash course of all things that go bump in the night and how I could protect myself from them.’

‘Things?’, Oliver hissed.

‘Yeah. The things we deal with in Starling’, she sook her head, grabbing his hand when she noticed it was shaking, ‘they’re not all there is. Werewolves, vampires, wendigos, wraith, witches, demons, you name it, they probably killed it.’, she looked back towards the brothers. ‘Because Sam and Dean here, they are the best hunters out there. Every creature’s afraid of them and every hunter wants to be them.’

‘You don’t look like Ash’s type.’, was the first thing Dean said, with a raised eyebrows.

She gave him her best bitch face. ‘Is it the heels or the makeup that gave that away?’, she rolled her eyes. ‘I really wasn’t his type, I was his best friend. We were the smartest people there and the most socially awkward. Of course we connected.’

‘Look, Miss’, Sam said, but Felicity interrupted him once again.

‘It’s Felicity. Felicity Smoak.’

‘Felicity, we’re not not sure-‘

‘Tell me what are you hunting.’, she cringed. ‘I’m sorry that I keep interrupting you, Sam, but you’re not telling me the things you should. So, please, tell me what you think you’re hunting and I’ll tell if the Arrow’s already working on it or not.’

‘The Cupid in green tights?’, Dean said, pulling a face.

Felicity squeezed Oliver’s hand and tried not to laugh.

‘The vigilante who’s keeping this city safe, yeah. I work with him, we work with him. So tell me what are you hunting.’

‘We don’t know’, Sam said after a beat. ‘You had a break-in, in Applied Sciences, we saw the footage. We don’t know what that guy was, but it clearly wasn’t human.’

Felicity looked at Oliver, who was shaking his head, willing her not to say anything.

‘It’s okay’, she smiled at him, before turning back to Sam. ‘He is human, but enhanced. It’s a serum, called Mirakuru, man made, War World 2 relic, makes men super strong and gives them super healing abilities. Really bad weapon of mass destruction, it messes with their heads, they’re not right.’

‘Insane super soldiers?’, Sam asked with wide eyes, and Felicity nodded, sadly.

‘How?’, Dean asked, with a very disheveled look on his face.

‘The Japanese wanted an army of super soldiers. We don’t really know much about it, yet, but-‘

‘How do you even know _anything_ about it?’, Sam interrupted.

‘Weren’t you stranded in Japan on that island?’, Dean asked Oliver, waving a hand at him.

Oliver glared, but answered after Felicity, once again, squeezed his hand.

‘China, actually. But yes, that’s why we know about it. Because I encountered it there.’

‘It’s not really your jurisdiction’, Felicity smiled, taking the attention away from Oliver. ‘The Arrow’s on the case. And the SCPD, and they may not be much, but they do what they can. And so do we. So, thank you, for the concern and for taking the time in driving down here, but we’ve got this covered.’

Sam shook his head. ‘We can help.’

‘You really can’t’, Felicity grinned at him. ‘I’m not saying that you’re not capable’, she backtracked, ‘I know you are, more than capable, but I’m sure you have better things to do. Things with claws and fangs and black eyes.’

‘She’s right.’, Dean told his brother.

‘I don’t like this’, Sam responded.

Felicity laughed, startling the brothers. ‘Ash always said you care too much.’

Their faces fell again, and Felicity shook her head, trying to get the images of Ash’s funeral out of it. She smiled at the Winchesters, and finally took her hand from Oliver’s hold.

She handed Dean her phone, but he just stared down at it.

‘Put your number in’, she smiled. ‘The real one, not for the burner phones you probably gave Oliver already. We’ll keep in touch, I promise to call if we ever need help.’

Sam wordlessly took her phone, but he spared a smile in her direction.

Felicity took one of Oliver’s business cards of his desk, quickly writing down her number on the back of it. She handed it to Dean, politely smiling up at him, getting distracted by his amazing eyes for a few seconds.

‘Call if you need anything. Through me, you have an open line to the Arrow, if there’s anything he can help with, he most likely will. Me too’, she added around a smile. ‘I’m pretty good with computers.’

‘How good?’, Dean narrowed his eyes, but took the card and shoved it in his pocket, as Sam was handling Felicity back her phone.

‘I can hack into the FBI mainframe in 3 minutes, on average’, she grinned.

Dean went to say something, but he closed his mouth. His eyes then moved over Felicity’s body, he wasn’t even trying to be subtle. When he looked at her face again, he smiled, very flirty and cocky.

‘So is there anything interesting we should see in Starling City? You know, before we leave?’, he winked.

‘No’, Felicity pulled a face, trying her best not to laugh.

‘Are you sure?’, Dean smiled, all angelic and oozing playful flirting, taking a small step closer to her.

‘Oh yeah’, Felicity nodded. ‘Firstly, noooo’, she chuckled. ‘Nope, absolutely not, down boy! Secondly, just fyi, you’re gorgeous, and you know it, but the cockiness only works with a certain type of women. Not to be degrading or anything, but a little class might do you some good.’

‘What?’, Dean’s eyebrows were high on his forehead and Sam was hiding his smirk behind his hand. So was Diggle.

‘Thirdly’, Felicity continued, taking a final step forward and fixing Dean's tie, ignoring his shocked expression, ‘Don’t assume a woman is a tramp just because she wears short skirts and high heels. It’s degrading and you’re better than that.’

She closed two buttons on his suit jacket, making sure the tie is sitting firmly in place, then softly clapped him on one cheek, grinning and taking a step back.

‘What just happened?’, Dean was blinking rapidly and staring down at her.

Sam snorted. Felicity spared him a look, but then she winked at Dean.

‘I just turned you down. Now is the moment when you turn around, brood all the way down to your muscle car, get in, drive away, and somewhere along the way to the hotel, you should realize that you didn’t really _need_ to get laid tonight. Then, you’re gonna realize how awesome I am and you’re gonna program my number in your phone and you’ll remember me when and if you’ll ever need me.’

‘Are you crazy?’, Dean hissed after a few beats of awkward silence.

‘Completely’, Oliver deadpanned, and when Felicity looked at him, he was watching her with a very frowny face, pouting and glaring daggers at Dean every other second. She just grinned.

Dean turned around and left without another word, his brother failing at hiding his laughs.

‘It was really nice to meet you’, he grinned at Felicity. ‘We’ll be in touch.’

‘Please’, she nodded.

After Sam left the office, Felicity turned the cameras back on. Then, Oliver shut down his computer and gently grabbed her hand.

‘We’re taking a day off QC. We’re going to the Foundry, we’ll raid the bar. We’re gonna drink and you’re going to tell us everything you know.’

Felicity laughed, but went to grab her bag nonetheless.

It was a pretty memorable day, from then on. Even if it ended with her as drunk as she never was, passed out on the uncomfortable couch in the Foundry.  

 


	23. God bless boobs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Saw this prompt in the Olicity tag: Someone breaks into Felicity’s house while she’s in the shower, but she hears and calls Oliver. When he arrives a fight starts and Oliver starts to lose. Then Felicity drops her towel to distract the attacker. Would love your version of it. :)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I killed myself laughing while writing this. I don't know anymore, give me ALL THE CRACK, to cancel out the angst the show's giving me. [I think I wrote this a bit differently than the rest. It kinda feels like Felicity's narrating it? A bit? It's still in the third person, though. Eh. Whatever. FUN.]

It’s in her blood, by this point. It’s more than just an instinct, it just is necessary. It’s weird, that is true, but Felicity takes her phone with her everywhere, including the bathroom. She also locks the door it when she takes a shower.

Yeah, it’s weird. But Oliver’s paranoia has been rubbing off on her. Clearly.

Oliver, who just left her apartment 10 minutes ago. Limping his way down to his bike, bruised but smiling, because he saved her, once again. Felicity got herself kidnapped, again, and Oliver and Digg had to come to her rescue, again, and Oliver beat the guy to a pulp, but the asshole got some hits in, as well. So when Oliver insisted on driving Felicity home, she insisted on cleaning his wounds. As little as it was, at least she felt like she did something, besides thanking him verbally and hugging him tightly.

But god, was she tired. She just wanted a long shower, maybe somebody to wash her hair, but since that wasn’t happening, she settled on using her extra fancy shampoo, the one Oliver got her for her birthday. Very expensive, but it smelled like cupcakes and it did wonders to her hair.

She didn’t get to use it, because she heard noises coming from her living room. Felicity banged her head on the tiles, for good measure. She didn’t shut off the water as she climbed out of the bath tub, quickly wrapping herself in her fluffy baby blue towel. She took a deep breath.

A normal person would grab a blunt object, and slowly make their way out the bathroom door. Or they would grab their phone and call the police. But Felicity wasn’t a normal person.

So she got her phone and started the app that permitted her to see the live feed from the concealed security cameras she placed around her house. And, sure enough, the front door was wide open, even if she clearly remembers locking it after Oliver left, and there was a guy snooping around in her living room. He had baggy jeans and a black hoodie over his head, but Felicity managed to see his face. He was just a kid, barely even 18, she thought, who was now going through the jewelry box she kept on the coffee table, picking up things and putting them in his pocket.

He was clearly keeping attention to the bathroom, probably waiting to hear the shower turn off. And that made her pause, because he wasn’t in a hurry to get out before she came out of the shower, no, he was waiting for her.

Felicity sighed, swallowed around the lump in her throat and texted Oliver.

_There’s a punk in my apartment. Barely legal. But he’s waiting for me to come out of the shower. Help? Please._

He responded instantly, _STAY IN THE BATHROOM_

So she waited, sitting on the toilet, watching the feed on her phone. After three minutes, Oliver came running into the apartment, not stopping until he had the kid in a death choke.

But Oliver was injured, worse than Felicity thought he was, and the kid was stronger that he looked. So she stood there, for two minutes, her whole body tense, watching Oliver struggling.

She couldn’t stand there and do nothing, though. So she put her phone down and opened the door, intending to run to her bedroom and get the baseball bat she kept by the door.

But she didn’t get that far, because the moment she stepped out of the bathroom, the kid managed to kick Oliver off his back, sending him flying to the ground. He landed with a thud and a loud groan, over several stack of books Felicity had lying on the floor.

Thus, she found herself face to face with the kid, who looked a little worse for wear, with blood pouring from his nose and lip, but he was still standing in a defensive stance. That changed quickly, and Felicity recognized the movement, he was going to attack her, so she panicked.

Quite a lot.

Felicity screamed, but didn’t keep still. She did the only thing she could think of, and hours later she might end up regretting it, but there wasn’t anything else she could do.

So Felicity quickly unwrapped her towel, screaming all the while, and the kid froze, staring at her wide eyed. His eyes dropped to her body, and his jaw dropped, a weird whining noise coming from his throat.

Oliver groaned again, still on the ground, throatily saying her name and that was what made her jump.

Felicity yelped and threw the towel at the kid’s face. He stumbled backwards, by the shock of it, probably, but Felicity didn’t hesitate, she quickly took a few steps forward, getting quite close to the guy who didn’t really seem to understand what was happening, because he wasn’t even trying to take the towel off his face. So she took the ends of it and wrapped it around his head once, twice.

Then, she pushed the guy with all the strength she could gather, making him stumble backwards. But he didn’t fall.

Felicity looked towards Oliver, desperation in her eyes. ‘Help?’, she hissed and that got Oliver moving, he quickly got up, then graciously extended his leg, tripping the kid. He fell to the side, with a very feminine yelp escaping his lips, even if it was muffled by the towel. Oliver bent over and kicked him in the face, and the guy was unconscious instantly.

When Oliver straightened up, he slowly moved his eyes all over Felicity’s body, from bottom to top. His eyes never lingered on a particular place, but they were wide and his mouth was slightly open.

She couldn’t move. She just stood there, frozen in place, completely naked in her living room, hands stiff in front of her body and her hair wet, droplets falling on her breasts. She was wearing her glasses, though, so Felicity clearly saw Oliver’s pupils dilate and his right eye twitch.

He quickly blinked a couple of times, and forced his head up, it seemed, looking at her face.

‘You’re naked’, he said, unnecessary, and his voice was very low and he sounded pained.

Felicity still couldn’t move. Then, she heard footsteps rapidly approaching, and when Detective Lance’s voice came through, a strong yell of ‘SCPD’, she looked away from Oliver and towards the door.

Lance was standing there, gun drawn, eyes wide. He looked at Felicity, then at Oliver, then at the unconscious guy on the floor, with his face wrapped in a baby blue towel, with blood seeping through it.

He looked at Felicity, again, and quickly put a hand over his face.

That made Felicity move, and scream, running towards her bedroom and shutting the door behind her with a loud thud.

‘Oh my god!’, she screamed, rushing to her dresser. ‘Jesus fucking Christ, that did not just happen’.

‘Felicity!’, Oliver’s loud voice came through. ‘Are you hurt?’

‘No’, she yelled back, angrily. Why was she angry? This was all her fault.

‘No’, Felicity replied a bit more calmly, but just as loud. ‘Only my dignity got hurt, holy mother of god.’

‘Felicity!’, Oliver said again, just as urgently and concerned.

‘I’m fine.’, she yelled back. ‘Let me get dressed, for god’s sake, Oliver, let me put on clothes.’

‘Okay’, he sighed and she heard his footsteps walking away from the door.

Felicity quickly got dressed, mechanically putting on panties and a bra, deodorant and a pair of sweats. She grabbed the first clean t-shirt she found, which was an overly large red one, with a chiby drawing of a wolf on it, wearing glasses and typing on a computer.

Before Felicity even realized what she was doing it, she put on her favorite perfume and braided her still messy hair .  She paused in the doorway, hand on the knob, and took a deep breath.

She still couldn’t believe that actually happened. Felicity was insane, clearly. Absolutely fucking insane. But Oliver and Lance were on the other side of the door, and they knew that by now.

So she walked out into the living room, just as Lance was shoving the guy on the couch, cuffed hands behind his back and towel off his head. He was still unconscious.

‘Would someone please explain to me what happened?’, Lance asked, tiredly looking at Felicity.

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. So Oliver explained, briefly.

‘Felicity has security cameras installed in the apartment, so when she heard movement while in the shower, she checked the live feed. She texted me, I was close by, I tried to fight the guy off, fairly unsuccessfully.’, he almost growled, not taking his eyes off the guy. ‘So she came out, distracted him and wrapped her towel on his face. I knocked him unconscious.’

Lance turned to her, his face revealing absolutely no emotion. ‘You took off your towel, and while he was busy staring, you wrapped the towel around his head?’

Felicity shut her eyes tight and bit her lips, she knew she was as red as a tomato and she was shaking slightly in embarrassment. But she nodded.

The detective started laughing. Loud, body bending backwards, hand on his stomach. Felicity watched him in shock, while he made his way towards her and hugged her tightly.

She squealed, and how was she even capable of making that sound?! But he didn’t let go, still chuckling slightly in her hair. So she relaxed, bringing her hands around his waist, breathing in the smell of his cologne before she even realized it.

Lance stepped back, still holding her by the shoulders, and he shook her slightly, amusement written all over his features.

‘Don’t ever change, Miss Smoak.’

She didn’t know what to answer to that, so she just stared up at him, blinking rapidly.

‘I’m glad you’re safe, sweetheart.’, he said, more softly. ‘I’ll take care of everything, but I’ll need the footage. I promise nobody will see it except me.’

Felicity nodded. ‘Thank you, I’ll email it.’

A few more officers came in her still open front door, and quickly enough, they were gone, along with Lance and the still unconscious kid.

That left her alone with Oliver, once again.

‘Don’t ever do that again’, he said gruffly, staring her down.

‘Okay’, Felicity nodded seriously, then started laughing. Hysterically. She couldn’t stop, so she eased her way on the couch and sat down, bringing her knees to her chest, still laughing.

Olvier crouched down in front of her, a look that was both amused and concerned in his eyes, and put a comforting hand on her knee.

‘Are you okay, Felicity?’

She took a few deep breaths and grabbed his hand in both of hers. She kissed his knuckles and nodded.

‘Thank you for saving me, twice in a day. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Oliver’, she smiled. ‘But please, for the love of god, go home. You’re injured and exhausted, go home and sleep. And let me sleep, because Jesus fucking Christ, that happened.’

‘Okay’, he nodded, amused. ‘You…’, he blinked. ‘You swear a lot.’

‘When I’m mortified? Yeah’, she tilted her head.

Oliver smirked, shrugging. Then he kissed her forehead, then her cheek, then got up and headed for the door. Before he left, though, he turned around and just looked at her for a couple of seconds, a look she couldn’t define in his eyes.

‘I love the t-shirt’, he finally said, staring at the design on it. ‘And you seriously _do not_ have any reason to be mortified.’

And then he was gone, and Felicity was left staring at her door.

‘What was that?’, she asked out loud, but of course, nobody was there to answer.

So Felicity groaned her way to bed, barely getting out of her clothes, but not managing to put on new ones.

The next morning, she felt like she needed to take her payback, for all the times Oliver tortured her by swaggering around shirtless in the Foundry. This was her opportunity, clearly, because now she had confirmation, that Oliver was attracted to her body.

So Felicity put on a short black dress she knew he would like, with a bare back and a decent enough cleavage. But she put on a dark green bra and made sure it showed. She usually wore it with high boots, but today she put a simple pair of nude heels, properly showing off her legs. Felicity looked good, just a bit over the top than most days. But she felt extra pretty, and that gave her confidence.

She cheerfully walked into Oliver’s office, pleasantly surprised to see Diggle and Thea there with him. Felicity chuckled when Oliver asked how she was feeling, making her way towards his desk and taking a seat on a chair in front of it, next to Thea. She straightened her back and crossed her legs. There was a slight tick in Oliver’s jaw, he was gripping his coffee mug tightly, but he didn’t take his eyes off her face.

Felicity grinned. ‘I’m pretty good, actually. Thank you again, Oliver, you were amazing yesterday. And let me tell you, the video is the funniest thing I saw in my life. I think I watched it a dozen times, I can’t remember if I ever laughed that much’, she chuckled.

Then, she ducked her head and looked up at him, slowly batting her eyelashes and smiling softly. ‘I would’ve sent it to you, if, you know, it didn’t involve me emailing you footage of me naked.’

Oliver dropped his coffee cup on the floor. He was staring at her, eyes wide and ears red, so red, it was an incredible sight.

He was still staring as she stood up and grinned. ‘I’m not cleaning that up, Mister Queen’, she pointed at the mess at his feet. ‘No matter how many times you save my naked butt’, she winked. ‘You have a meeting in 20’.

Felicity walked out of the office then, grin on her face, completely ignoring Diggle’s questions and Thea’s laughs.

Oliver didn’t look her in the eye for the whole day. It made Felicity feel absolutely invincible. She took pity on him in the Foundry, though, when they were preparing to leave.

So she made her way towards him, interrupting the discussion he was having with Diggle, getting between the two men and hugging Oliver tightly, bringing her hands around his waist and pushing her nose on his neck.

‘What are you doing?’, he asked in a strangled voice, hands stiff by his side, looking straight ahead, at Diggle probably. He must be very confused, Felicity absently thought. Eh, someone will fill him in later.

‘I’m apologizing’, she said, smiling broadly even if he couldn’t see it. ‘For acting like a whore today and making you feel uncomfortable.’

Oliver made a strangled noise.

‘But in all fairness’, she shrugged, still pressed to him, ‘you deserved it. For every time you paraded your perfect, delicious, sweaty abs in my face.’

He stopped breathing, so she pinched his sides and took a step back, grinning up at him. Oliver was looking at her now, eyes wide and a slightly scared look in his eyes. It made her giggle.

‘Payback’s a bitch’, she winked. ‘But I’m not cruel, so business will return to normal tomorrow, I promise.’

‘So back to your usual levels of sexual tension?’, Diggle deadpanned.

She turned her back to Oliver, facing Digg and grinning at him.

‘Yup. Unless Mister Queen decides he does, actually, want to be with his EA.’

Digg just shook his head, throwing a quite pitying look at Oliver, that changed quickly.

‘Oliver, stop staring at her back’, he said in a strong tone, making Felicity burst out laughing.

She didn’t turn back to look at Oliver, but made her way towards her desk, grabbing her coat and bag. ‘God bless boobs’, she said, loudly, and promptly walked out of the Foundry.

Oliver followed her home. He stayed. For a couple of nights. Then, when he left, it was only to grab clean clothes. Felicity started washing them so that he wouldn’t have to leave anymore. Later on, he left to buy a bigger dressing, so that all his clothes would fit.

God bless the punk who tried to rob her, Felicity kept thinking. God bless his evil soul.  


	24. Felicity vs. Laurel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [misty-anne](http://misty-anne.tumblr.com) asked: _Personally, cheating on your partner is one of my unforgivable sins, and one that we have seen a lot of. From Oliver and Sara cheating on Laurel to Laurel and Oliver cheating on Tommy, to various parental figures doing it too. What about something exploring that expectation of cheating? Maybe Laurel making some comment about how does Felicity know when Oliver is flirting for a mission vs flirting for cheating, or a discussion about their 5 sex exceptions?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, this is shit and crap. Because _ugh, Laurel_.

Felicity was just about ready to shoot something. Laurel, she was just about ready to shoot Laurel. And that was saying something, considering how not at all violent Felicity was.

But Laurel was getting on her nerves. Badly.

The two of them were in the Foundry, late at night, Roy puttering around in the background, acting like he was ignoring their conversation, but in fact listening avidly to it.

It wasn’t really a conversation, it was more like Laurel was ranting avidly, and Felicity was trying, unsuccessfully, to get a word in. Which was something, considering Felicity was the one doing the talking most of the time.

The thing that triggered Laurel off in this rant was the fact that Oliver was at a gala, trying to get information for a case she was working on, and in order to do so, he had to flirt with a really beautiful and rich woman.

‘How are you so calm?’, Laurel asked for what felt like the billionth time. ‘You’re hearing  him, clearly, flirting with someone, but that doesn’t bother you?’

‘No’, Felicity sighed. ‘It doesn’t-‘

‘How can you trust him so much? Because you know that he has a history of cheating. He cheating on me with my sister, I cheated on Tommy with him.’

‘Yes, but-‘

‘And it’s kind of in his DNA. His father was notorious for it and his mother cheated on her husband with his best friend. And she had his baby!’

‘But-‘

‘And you haven’t really been dating for that long, only a couple of months, right?’

‘Three’, Felicity hissed, ‘But-‘

‘Have you spoken to him about exceptions in your relationships?’

‘What?’, it was Roy who asked, but Laurel didn’t even look at him, still intent on frowning down at Felicity.

‘You now, like the list of five people he can have sex with, without terminating your relationship. You should have a list too, it’s usually celebrities and people it wouldn’t be easy to get through, but this is Oliver we’re talking about’, Laurel rolled her eyes. ‘He could get anyone.’

And that was exactly the moment when Felicity just stopped trying. She didn’t say anything more, focused on working on her computers. Roy brought her a cup of coffee at some point, throwing her a sympathetic smile.

Unfortunately, Felicity couldn’t tune her out completely, so she still heard Laurel going on and on about how Oliver was a flawed man, like he was predisposed to cheating considering how many woman he had before. About how weird Laurel found that Felicity just trusted Oliver implicitly, that she couldn’t do it if she was in her place. About how Laurel was sure Oliver cared about Felicity, but-

Oliver and Diggle came back then, and Felicity breathed a sigh of relief when Laurel stopped talking.

‘Oh thank God’, she whispered and Oliver must have heard it, because he quickly handled Laurel the memory drive she was after, and made his way towards Felicity.

She stood up and smiled when Oliver told her a soft _hi_ , bending down and giving her a quick kiss on the lips. He started to walk away, back to Laurel, but Felicity didn’t let him, grabbing a hold of his hand.

‘Hey, Oliver, would you ever cheat on me?’, she smiled sweetly up at him.

‘No’, he answered quickly. Then, he turned and properly looked at her, narrowing his eyes.

‘Why wouldn’t you cheat on me?’, she pushed on.

‘Besides the fact that I love you?’, he frowned.

‘He’s telling you that after three months?’, Laurel said, slowly and incrediously, a look of pure disbelief on her face.

Oliver turned to her, but Felicity didn’t let him, squeezing his hand and making him look at her again.

‘Yes, besides the fact that you love me. Why else?’

‘And besides the fact that you’d find out and kick my ass?’, Oliver raised an eyebrow.

‘Yes, besides that.’, Felicity smirked.

He sighed. ‘Why would I cheat on you? I finally have you, why would I screw that up?’

He looked like he truly didn’t understand the concept, there was a frown between his eyebrows and his mouth was turned down, like it always was when he didn’t understand what Felicity was babbling about. And that made her happy.

So Felicity smiled broadly, put her free hand behind Oliver’s neck, dragging him down, kissing him intensely. He chuckled against her lips, but soon enough, he opened his mouth for her, and put his hands on her waist, bring them closer.

They pulled apart when Roy started making barfing noises.

‘What was that about?’, Oliver asked Felicity, a knowing smile on his face.

She hummed but didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned towards Laurel.

‘Actually’, she smiled at the lawyer, ‘Oliver actually told me he loved me before we got together. But, in his defense, I was kind of dying at the time, so, you know, desperate circumstances.’

Laurel just kept looking at her incredulously.

Felicity sighed. ‘I like you, Laurel, I really do, but if you ever make me feel this uncomfortable again, I will put on the Internet the pictures you and Sara took on your holiday in Tahiti. When you were drunk and wearing pink hairspray. Just pink hairspray.’

And that was the end of it, Laurel apologizing briefly and making her way out of the Foundry as fast as she could, which Felicity was thankful for.

‘If it can happen, let’s make sure I am never alone with her, ever again’, she told Oliver, who was chuckling and shaking his head at her antics.

‘You were with Roy.’, he lifted an eyebrow, while Felicity glared.

Oliver kissed her again, smiling against her lips and slowly pushing her towards the stairs, mumbling about how tired he was and about how he really wanted to get to bed.

Roy started making barfing noises again.


	25. Hidden talent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _how about felicity having a hidden musical talent?_

Felicity had a long day ahead of her. Firstly, she had a day full of work to attend, which will be filled with a lot of paperwork and planning for their trip. Because, secondly, Oliver, Digg and her will be leaving for Metropolis, on QC business. It would just be for a couple of days, a few meetings and boring dinners, but she still had to spend most of the previous night carefully packing dresses and heels.

Oliver insisted she’d leave her car at the manor every time they left somewhere, it was safer and he wouldn’t have to make a detour to pick her up. So when Felicity got there at 8 am sharp, she was dreading the next couple of days and she was already tired, having slept just a couple of hours the night before.

But Oliver was smiling at her, kissing her cheek and offering her a cup of coffee while the driver took care of her bags, moving them to his car. And that made Felicity feel a little bit better.

They didn’t get to talk, because the Queen’s lawyer appeared in the doorway, a tired look on his face. He assured Oliver that nothing was wrong and that they just needed to discuss some things before they left, so Oliver sighed and put a hand on Felicity’s elbow.

‘Why don’t you wait for me in the library?’

Felicity smiled gratefully at that, because that was her favorite room in the whole mansion. She usually ended up there, lounging on the plush couch and reading a few pages from whatever book caught her eye that day.

This time, though, Felicity didn’t wander off to the bookcases, she went to the piano that was in one of the corners of the room. She sat down on the chair in front of the keyboard and ran her fingers on it, noting that it was a very old model, but kept in pristine condition.

All it took was for one key to be accidentally hit, and Felicity was straightening her back and placing both her hands on the keyboard. Before she even realized it, she was singing her favorite song. Felicity knew it by heart, didn’t need the music sheets, and even though it’s been years since she played on an actual piano, not on the cheap digital keyboard she had home, it still sounded good.

Felicity was surprised to see that the piano was perfectly tuned, because she’s never seen anyone playing at it in the two years she knew Oliver. But this was the Queen mansion, there was a standard that needed to be fulfilled.

When she finished the song, Felicity took a deep breath and put her hands in her lap, and she heart Thea’s voice coming from the doorway.

‘Don’t stop’, she said softly, smiling at Felicity, coming into the library still dressed in her pajama. ‘It’s been a while since anybody used the piano. Play some more?’, Thea asked hopefully, sitting on the couch and bringing her knees to her chest. She smiled at Felicity, through sleepy eyelids and messy hair, and Felicity couldn’t really say no to that.

So she smiled at Thea, and started playing again. A different song, but still one she knew well. And another, and another, and after another three songs, she stopped because she couldn’t remember any more, not from the top of her head.

Felicity turned around and stopped when she saw Oliver in the doorway, leaning on the doorjamb, hands in his pockets and soft smile on his lips. But he didn’t say anything, just shook his head slightly and smiled a bit wider, and Felicity couldn’t help but smile back, even though she felt herself blush.

They both turned to look at Thea, and Felicity giggled when she saw the girl asleep, curled up on her side, head almost off the couch. Oliver sighed and rolled his eyes, but it was fond and loving. He gently put his hands under Thea and lifted her up. She woke up, but just enough to put her arms around Oliver’s neck.

Felicity followed them to Thea’s bedroom, and while Oliver tucked his sister in, kissing her forehead and promising to call her when they get to Metropolis, Felicity pulled down her blinds.

Once they were outside of the bedroom, the door closed behind them, Oliver smiled at Felicity and grabbed her hand, guiding them towards the stairs.

Oliver didn’t say anything, but Felicity knew what he wanted to ask anyway, so she answered with a shrug.

‘I started taking lessons when I was six. My mother insisted on it, and she kept insisting till I left for college.’

‘You’re good’, Oliver squeezed her hand. ‘How many more hidden talents to you have?’

Felicity ignored him. ‘Do you play?’, she asked, somewhat cautiously. ‘Or Thea?’

He shook his head. ‘My father was the only one who knew how to play. My mother tried to take us to lessons too, but Thea was more inclined to playing sports, and I was more inclined to watching cartoons.’

Felicity chuckled at that, gently taking her hand out of Oliver’s hold, when they got to the bottom of the stairs and the driver was waiting for them. Oliver nodded to him, and he left for the car, but then Oliver turned to Felicity again, grabbing her hand and giving her an intense look.

‘It’s such a waste that nobody uses the piano anymore.’, Oliver sighed.

‘It is’, Felicity agreed.

‘So you should come by more often’, he nodded, a hint of a smile on his face. ‘Keep it some company. I’m sure Thea would enjoy it.’

‘But’, she frowned, ‘the books will get jealous, if I don’t give them any attention.’

Oliver chuckled, but didn’t address it.

‘I would enjoy it too, you know.’, he smiled, squeezing her hand once more, before letting go and opening the front door.

‘I’m open for negotiations, then’, Felicity grinned, making her way towards the car and trying her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. She wasn’t very successful.


	26. It just happened. It didn't mean anything.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [hiddenpiecesofmybrokenheart](http://hiddenpiecesofmybrokenheart.tumblr.com) asked: _Prompt: roy and felicity are friends with benefits and oliver finds out and get very jealous. Roy and thea are on a break._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly: What? Like... How?!  
> Secondly: Okay. I loved this.
> 
> Obviously, prepare yourselves for some Felicity/Roy. And some angsty angst. Yup.

Felicity didn’t spend much time thinking about it.

It all started one night, after a particularly difficult mission. Oliver and Diggle still had some work to do, but Felicity was exhausted and bruised, and even though she knew the threat was gone, she still couldn’t calm herself down. So Roy drove her home.

He insisted on walking her to the door, and Felicity offered him a cup of coffee before he went home.

She knew Roy wasn’t in a good place. Although he wasn’t influenced by the Mirakuru anymore, he was still struggling with being part of Team Arrow. They all tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible, Felicity, Diggle, and Oliver, but it was a slow process. He still had doubts, he felt weak without the extra strength the serum gave him, he was struggling with the bow and more often than not, he would close off and distance himself from them. Thea wasn’t by his side, she was still recovering from everything that happened because of Slade, and she told Roy that she needed some time. Roy accepted it, but he didn’t like it, at all, judging by the look of pure despair that crossed his face any time someone would mention Thea’s name.

Felicity understood it. That’s why she always tried to be as supportive as she could. They didn’t talk about personal things, not really, but when she’d see Roy close off, he’d get him a cup of coffee, or start talking at him about a tv show he’d like or some funny video she found online. Roy would listen to her and nod along, sometimes actively taking part in the conversation.

It wasn’t much, but it seemed to help him. That was probably why he was in her kitchen that night, sitting at her table, smiling and cradling the white cup of coffee between his fingers.

‘Are you sure you’re going to be alright?’, he asked for the billionth time, getting up and putting the dirty mug in the sink.

Felicity nodded. ‘Eventually. I’ll be okay tonight, I’m just going to go to bed. Thank you, though’, she smiled, ‘for being concerned.’

Roy made his way towards her, then, and hugged her, somewhat awkwardly. His hands were around her shoulders and his cheek was pressed to her hair. Felicity relaxed quickly, grabbing a hold of his hoodie with one hand, and putting the other one on his back.  She sighed, pushing her nose against his neck.

‘You’re not as angular as I would’ve thought’, Felicity mumbled before she thought better of it.

Roy snorted and tightened his hold on her for a beat. Then he pulled away, but not far. He looked down at her, with a look she didn’t really understand, but Felicity smiled up at him anyway.

Then, they were kissing. It started off soft and hesitant, and Roy was holding back, clearly. And Felicity was pretty much frozen in place, but when he didn’t stop kissing her, when he brought a hand on her neck and stroked him thumb under her jaw, Felicity melted in his arms and kissed him back.

The pace of the kiss changed then, it grew more intense, faster, so fast, it was desperate and bruising. But it didn’t stop.

They didn’t stop.

Next time her brain caught up with her, they were in her bedroom, both half naked and panting on the bed. Roy was on top of her, Felicity had her legs wrapped around his waist and their bodies were pressed together. Roy asked for a condom and Felicity quickly directed him to her vanity.

Roy didn’t leave for the night.

They talked about it in the morning, because Felicity needed to talk about it.

Roy still loved Thea. And Felicity still… well, she didn’t say it out loud, but Roy knew it anyway. They weren’t going to tell anybody, and it wasn’t going to affect their ‘working’ relationship. Because it didn’t mean anything. There weren’t feelings involved, not romantically, but they both needed it. To blow off steam, to calm themselves, to forget about anything else for a moment. It didn’t mean anything, it was a means to an end, and they both agreed with that.

They didn’t call, Roy would text her, usually after she got home from the Foundry. Sometimes, Felicity would text him. Once or twice a week, they’d have sex in Felicity’s bed, with the lights off and making as little sound as they could. Roy would stay the night, usually going home early in the morning.

It was good, it was helpful.

It changed their ‘working’ relationship, though, but not drastically. Roy talked to her more, when they were in the Foundry, light topics, joking around and bickering at each other. They’d touch more, but it wasn’t at all sexual. She’d slap him playfully when he was teasing her, they’d bump shoulders and Felicity would be the one to clean up his wounds, more often than not.

But Roy also opened up to Diggle and Oliver too. They all noticed it, how Roy seemed a bit more comfortable in his skin, and in the Foundry. He seemed a little more at ease in the team, and that helped with his training. Felicity was glad.

It went on for a couple of months. Felicity thought nobody suspected anything, but she was proven wrong.

Oliver had been acting off all day. He barely looked her in the eye, and when he did, there would be a nervous tick in his jaw. His answers were cold and impersonal, pushed out and very, very detached.

So when everybody left for the night, Felicity stayed behind in the Foundry, nervously watching Oliver working on his arrows. His movements were tight and quite violent, and all the muscles in his body seemed clenched.

‘Did I do something wrong?’, she asked softly, but didn’t move from her desk. She was leaning against it, nervously tapping her foot. When Oliver turned around in his chair and looked at her, there was a storm in his eyes, and it made Felicity’s knees grow week, because Oliver was mad.

‘Funny you should ask that.’, he sighed.

‘You’ve been acting weird all day. Towards me. If I did something to upset you, I’d like to know.’

Oliver got up from his chair and took a few steps forward. There was still space between them, but he didn’t take his eyes off her. When he talked, his voice was cold, so cold. And he was speaking slowly, his fists clenched and a tick in his jaw.

‘You’re sleeping with Roy.’

Felicity stopped breathing, and blinked at him for a couple of seconds, but in the end she sighed and crossed her arms across her chest.

‘So?’, she shrugged, feeling very tired of all a sudden.

Oliver flinched, visibly, and he took a small step backwards. The anger didn’t leave him, though, and he was looking at Felicity with a frown between his eyebrows.

‘You’re not even going to try to deny it?’

‘I don’t lie to you’, she answered instantly.

Oliver was breathing through his nose, and he just looked at her for a couple of seconds, the silence in the Foundry making it easy for Felicity to hear the rapid beats of her heart.

‘How could you?’, he hissed, angry, so so angry and that, that made Felicity mad.

‘It just happened.’, she told him, forcefully. ‘It didn’t mean anything.’

Oliver gasped at that, and took another step backward. His anger was gone, replaced by sadness and a betrayed look Felicity didn’t really think he had the right to have. Felicity absently thought if she looked as bad when he said those words to her after Russia.

His anger was gone, but hers wasn’t.

‘It’s a means to an end.’, Felicity said, eventually, speaking in a strong voice, even though there are tears threatening to fall. ‘It’s us, blowing off steam. It’s us, forgetting about everything wrong in our lives for a while. It…’, she took a deep breath. ‘Roy loves Thea. More than he loves himself, really. When she’ll remember how much she loves him, we’ll stop and-‘, she shook her head, ‘and it would be like it never happened.’

‘But it did. It does happen.’ Oliver said, slowly.

‘And?’, she hissed. ‘It doesn’t influence you in any way.’

‘It influences the team.’, he sighed, after a beat.

Felicity scoffed. ‘Oh yeah, it does, it completely does. It the months that we have been sleeping together, Roy has opened up to the team, he’s not so angry all the time. He’s better at learning, how to fight and how to shoot a bow, and he’s better with you. I’m not saying that it’s all on me, because it’s not, it’s all on him. But the fact that we have been sleeping together did not influence this team in any bad way.’

Oliver’s eyes were wide and he was breathing through his mouth. ‘Months?’, he whispered.

Felicity close her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down.

‘Yes, Oliver. Months. How did you find out?’

He looked down and clenched his fist. ‘I wanted to bring you breakfast this morning. Got there just as he was kissing you goodbye.’

Felicity flinched. Oliver was being extremely polite, because when Roy left that morning, she was still naked in bed, and he kissed his way up her body, from her thigh to her neck, and when he finally kissed her lips, his hand was digging bruised in her hip.

‘What now?’, Felicity asked finally, taking a few steps forward so that she was closer to Oliver.

He looked at her for a long moment, and in the end he shook his head and looked away.

‘I don’t know.’, he sighed.

‘Why is this important?’, Felicity sighed. ‘Why… Why is this affecting you so much?’

His eyes snapped to her, and he shot her a dangerous look. But Felicity didn’t back down.

‘Don’t act like you don’t know.’, he said, angry once again, his voice louder than before. ‘Don’t act like you don’t know how I feel.’

‘About me?’

Oliver nodded.

Felicity looked in his eyes for a couple of seconds, seeing anger and confusion, and hurt, so much hurt. She hated that she was the one that caused it, but… He didn’t have the right. So she closed her eyes, quickly wiped away the tear that fell in the process, and when she looked up and him, she smiled.

‘If you can’t be with someone that you could really care about’, her voice broke at the end, but Felicity pushed on, ‘than I can’t be with someone I care about. Because I don’t care about Roy. I don’t love Roy.’

She frowned. ‘No, I do, I do love Roy. I love Roy as much as I love Digg or Sara.’ She straightened her face and looked at him again. ‘But not as much as I love you, never as much as I love you.’

Oliver didn’t say anything. He was breathing slowly and looking straight into her eyes. She lifted a hand and put in on his cheek, and he instantly closed his eyes, a sigh escaping his lips. But he didn’t move away.

‘You’re my partner’, she whispered, repeating the same words he said to her months ago. She was crying fully by this point, and she was glad that Oliver kept his eyes closed, that he wasn’t seeing it. ‘You’re my friend, Oliver, and our lives have gotten to the point where we can’t function without each other. And that’s okay. But for the sake of that, you need to let this go. You have no right to act betrayed, and you have no right to judge me or Roy. I am begging you’, her voice cracked and she dropped her hand from his face, wiping away her tears. ‘Please, Oliver, I am begging, don’t say a word about this to Roy, because he wouldn’t handle it. He looks up to you, and your disappointment might just ruin him. You can’t afford that, the Arrow can’t afford that.’

He didn’t say anything, but he nodded slightly.

Felicity turned around and walked out of the Foundry without looking back. She cried all the way home.

She didn’t call Roy, he called her a couple of hours later, very late in the night. He usually called only with Arrow business, and that made her panic.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing’, Roy quickly assured. ‘Something, but it’s not wrong per say.’

‘Spit it out’, she sighed.

‘Oliver came to see me.’, Roy said softly, as Felicity made her way back into bed. ‘He was oddly calm, given the circumstances.’

Felicity didn’t say anything, and Roy sighed over the silence that fell.

‘He loves you, Felicity. As much as you love him.’

‘Oliver told you that?’, she asks incredulously.

‘Yeah. That and more, much more. I don’t… Just trust me on this.’

‘So what?’, Felicity hissed, anger flaring up again. ‘Okay, he loves me, I love him. Okay then. So. What. He won’t ever be with me, he’s afraid I’m going to die because of it.’

‘And he’s right’, Roy said back, oddly calm. ‘Slade almost killed you, because you are Oliver’s weakness.’

Silence stretched out again, and Felicity ran a hand over her face.

‘I’m sorry’, she said finally. ‘I didn’t want this to happen. You and Oliver, you-‘

‘Stop’, Roy told her forcefully. ‘Me and Oliver nothing. We’re not talking about that, we’re talking about you and Oliver. And I am telling you that he loves you.’

‘I know.’, she whispered.

‘Good. That’s all that matters now.’

‘I don’t want you to run away again’, she confessed. ‘This team needs you, and you need us. I don’t want you to go because of me and Oliver.’

‘That’s not going to happen.’, Roy said softly. ‘Oliver said the same thing, and begged me not to do it. I wouldn’t have done it anyway.’

‘Promise?’, Felicity whispered, wiping a tear away.

‘Yeah, blondie’, Roy chuckled. ‘I know you’re hurting now’, he said, serious once again, ‘but in the long run, this is a good thing.’

‘Liar’, she smiled.

He hummed. ‘Wait and see. I wish I could help you right now, but I can’t.’

‘I know. There’s nothing you can do.’

‘Get some sleep, will you?’

He hung up before Felicity got a chance to say anything.

She knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep, so she e-mailed HR, putting Oliver in the cc, telling them that she is taking a sick day tomorrow. She also e-mailed Diggle, not saying much, but telling him that Oliver needs some space away from her and that he should keep an eye out on him.

When she fell asleep, the sun was coming out and there were undried tears on her face.

Felicity spent the day mostly in bed, ordering pizza for lunch and catching up on her tv shows. She tried not to think of Oliver, but every now and then she’d start crying, for no apparent reason. She didn’t feel strong enough to go back to him, to the team. She didn’t feel capable to go back to the way things were, to do her job and be by his side.

She knew she was going to do it, it wasn’t a choice. She had to do it. But it will be hard.

Felicity took a shower just before midnight. She changed the sheets on her bed, put on a pair of shorts and a tank top and started praying that she will fall asleep fast.

There was a knock on her bedroom window three minutes after she got under the covers. Her heart skipped a beat, because while she expected Oliver to come to her, she wasn’t expecting it to be this fast.

She pushed her comforter back and turned on the light on her bedside table. Oliver was crouching on the fire escape, dressed in street clothes and looking straight at her.

Felicity nodded her head, and he opened the window, coming in while she crossed her feet in front of her, nervously playing with her fingers in her lap.

Oliver closed the window behind him and slowly made his way towards the bed, awkwardly sitting in front of her. He was tense, visibly, but he also seemed determined. And that realization made Felicity’s heart beat pick up.

Before he said anything, though, Oliver put a hand over both of hers, stilling them. He gently took a hold of one of her hands, twisting their fingers together and giving a soft squeeze.

He rested their hands on her bare knee, and finally took his eyes away from her. Oliver looked down at their hands, at where his thumb was brushing against hers.

‘I need you.’, he finally said, voice raw and whispered. ‘I need you in my life, by my side, daily at QC and every night in the Foundry. That’s not questionable anymore, it’s one of the few things I am certain of in my life. And the thought of losing you, Felicity, it drives me insane. The Count, Clock King, Slade, they all almost took you from me, and I cannot have that.’

‘You’re not going to lose me’, she whispered.

Oliver closed his eyes, but didn’t look at her.

‘It feels like I am. Not to Roy, but…’, he took a deep breath and squeezed her hand again, speaking forcefully. ‘I don’t want you sleeping with Roy. I don’t want you sleeping with anybody, I don’t want you being with anybody.’

‘But you don’t want me being with you either’, Felicity sighed.

‘I do’, Oliver answered quickly, making her jaw drop. ‘I want you to be with me more than anything else right now, but you deserve better.’

‘I don’t want better, I want you.’

‘Don’t say that’, Oliver sighed, looking pained. ‘Please don’t say that.’

‘I don’t lie to you’, Felicity reminded him, softly. ‘You can’t… Oliver, do you expect me to wait for you? To wait forever, for something that’s clearly not going to happen, because you’re scared?’

He didn’t say anything, so she continued.

‘You’re scared that someone might hurt me because of you, you’re scared that you are going to hurt me, you’re scared that I’m going to leave you when I realize I could do better and that’s wrong, Oliver, that’s so wrong, so far from the truth.’

She sighed and tightened her hold on his hand.

‘I’m tired, Oliver. I’m tired of trying to convince you to be with me, and I’m not going to do that anymore. But you can’t…’, she took a deep breath. ‘You can’t act like you love me, and push me away. You can’t act jealous and get mad like this.’

‘I am willing to do a lot of things for you, Oliver.’ That made him look at her. ‘I’m willing to let it go, completely, and go back to the way things were, but I need your help. I can’t do it alone.’

Oliver turned his body around, facing her fully. His eyes were glossy and he was biting his lip.

‘I can’t go back to how it was before. And I don’t want that.’

Felicity waited, until he took a deep breath and seemed to gather his thoughts.

‘I want you.’, Oliver said softly, looking at her, only at her. ‘I love you and I want you. And I am sorry, so sorry that it took me so long to accept it. I can’t live without you. From now on, I can’t live without you in my arms. And I don’t want to.’

Felicity stopped breathing the second he started talking. She was crying, and they were holding onto one another so tightly and she couldn’t believe this was happening.

‘Really?’, she couldn’t help but ask. ‘Are you sure? Because if you wake up tomorrow and take it all back, I-‘

‘Felicity’, he breathed out, a caring and amused look appearing on his face, one she was pretty used to by now. ‘If we’re doing this, we’re doing this together.’

‘I love you’, he easily said, ‘as much as you love me. And we owe it, to ourselves and to one another, to be together.’

Felicity didn’t wait for anything else, she threw herself at him. She kissed Oliver, urgently, getting on his lap before she even realized what she was doing. She didn’t care, she just wanted him close, as close as they could get.

Oliver caught her, easily, holding onto her hips, while she settled on his lap, hands wrapped tightly around his neck and feet around his waist. They kissed for a long time, hands roaming everywhere and holding on tightly. Oliver groaned every time Felicity would sneak a hand under his jumper, scratching gently on the skin she’d find there. Ever so often, his hands would wander on to her ass, pushing her forward, closer to him. And Felicity was hyper aware of every second of it. She melted against him and couldn’t stop smiling, even if her lips were busy doing something else.

When Felicity finally pulled back, she only did it so she could see him. He smiled at her, and wiped away the last remains of tears from her cheeks. She sighed and hugged him tightly, kissing his cheek and resting her head on his shoulder.

‘Take off your clothes.’, Felicity whispered. ‘And sleep with me. Not like that, we don’t have to… Stay. Just stay with me tonight.’

‘Okay’, Oliver said, but it took a while longer for Felicity to move. He didn’t seem to mind.

Felicity fell asleep feeling better than she had in years, with her head on Oliver’s bare chest, and his hand pushed under her top, rubbing circles on her back.

The next day at lunch, Roy brought both her and Oliver chocolate cupcakes and coffee, but made a point in saying they shouldn’t get used to it. Oliver raised a very unimpressed eyebrow.

‘Thank you, Roy’, he smiled and it was the fake smile he usually used with the QC board members. ‘And you shouldn’t get used to going to Felicity’s apartment anymore. Because I’ll most likely be there, and I will kick your ass. Repeatedly.’

He said it in the sweetest tone, and Felicity and Roy were both left staring.

Roy recovered first. ‘And if you screw this up, I’m pretty sure Diggle and I will kick _your_ ass.’

‘Understood.’, Oliver nodded seriously, after a beat.

After Roy left, Felicity started laughing, and didn’t stop until Oliver had enough and silenced her with a kiss.


	27. Quentin Lance always noticed things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _could you do one through Lance's POV and noticing the Arrow's soft spot for Felicity when a mission goes south and Felicity is hurt/threatened and Oliver is jumpy and protective of her after...?_

Quentin Lance has always noticed things. It was his job, but he has always been a very attentive person. He didn’t always let the people around him know the things he caught, but he always remembered them.

So he noticed how Laurel’s relationship with Oliver changed, since the kid came back from that island. He noticed how he still cared about Laurel, a great deal, and once he came to accept the fact that Oliver Queen was not a bad man, he was glad of it.

He noticed how much Oliver has changed in those five years. He wasn’t the carefree douchebag everybody knew before, not anymore, now he seemed to be always tense, carrying a great deal of pressure on his shoulder. And torture, Lance guessed, because he sometimes saw Oliver reacting like a soldier who came back from war. PTSD, maybe, but if not that, Lance was sure Oliver saw a great ordeal of things.

He pitied him, but he also respected Oliver for the way he seemed to deal with it.

When he met the Arrow, Lance noticed a lot of things. How he always seemed tense, how he clenched his fists ever so often, how he never seemed to be able to look him in the eye. After Sara came back, Lance noticed how much the Arrow seemed to care about her, and how much she cared about him. He was grateful for that, even if he didn’t understand it.

The Arrow cared about Laurel, as well. He always saved her life, and, once again, for that Lance was grateful.

But nothing was more interesting for Lance than Felicity Smoak. He enjoyed noticing things about her, from the first moment he met her. How she always kept her head high, even if she was in a precarious spot (like in a Police station, questioned about her allegiance with the hooded vigilante). How she talked too much, her brain working slower than her mouth, but in comparison, how much information she kept in that brain of hers.

Felicity Smoak wasn’t only smart, she was also a genius. Lance was always impressed by her skills with a computer, but after getting to know her a bit better, he was pleasantly surprised of how Felicity thought, strategically, but with a big heart, always with a big heart.

She cared a lot about the people around her, that much was clear. She cared a lot about the Arrow, even if she always stood up to him, she didn’t let him intimidate her and she always pointed out when he was about to do something wrong. And the Arrow always listened to Felicity.

She was the same towards Oliver. Yes, she agreed to be his EA, and that was something Lance didn’t really understand, considering how vast her skill set was, but Felicity never acted like a real secretary. She was sarcastic and funny, she bossed Oliver around and told him what to do, but she always explained and made him understand why her way was better. And Oliver listened to Felicity.

He never really understood why Felicity involved herself with these people. She was smart, and caring, a beautiful woman with a warm heart, and young, so young. Why would she willingly ally herself with billionaire playboy Oliver Queen and with killer vigilante the Arrow, it was always very confusing for the Detective.

Quentin Lance was not a stupid man, no matter what other people thought of him. Just because he kept quiet, it didn’t mean he didn’t think.

He suspected Oliver Queen was the Arrow. Had for a long time, even if there were evidences to indicate the opposite, even if everybody said that Oliver just helped the Arrow every now and then, when he could. His daughters knew the true identity of the vigilante, but Lance didn’t want the confirmation. As he told Laurel, it would make him look at the Arrow like a man, with family and friends, and that would be a difficult thing to do, it might influence the work they do. But the thought never left Lance’s mind.

And when his doubts were finally confirmed, of course Felicity Smoak was in the middle of it.

The Arrow and Lance both have been following a mobster that had made base in Starling for the past weeks. They always got close, but never close enough to catch him, with solid evidence to keep him in prison for the rest of his life.

In the mean time, he got closer to them, too. So the mobster kidnapped Felicity, using her as bait to draw the Arrow out. When he called Lance, the detective was quite surprised to hear the distinctive note of desperation in the Arrow’s voice, as he demanded his help.

Lance knew the Arrow cared about Felicity Smoak, but now he found out just how much.

When he got to the abandoned warehouse she was being kept in, Lance was greeted by the Arrow and John Diggle, both men visibly worried and bent on delivering hell if Felicity was hurt. Lance could relate. He grew fond of her over the past few months, it came as a surprise, like most things Felicity Smoak did. But Lance didn’t dwell on it.

Not when they made their way into the warehouse and saw her tied to a chair, bruises on her knees and arms. She was crying, but there was rage in her eyes, so much anger directed at the man who was standing beside her, pointing a gun straight at her head.

The mobster demanded of the Arrow to drop his bow and he obliged, quickly. At first, he was angry, yelling at him to let go of Felicity, that she wasn’t to blame for anything. ‘Your problem is with me, not with her’, he said, over and over again. Lance noticed that his right hand kept twitching, and at some point, he started moving his fingers, rubbing them together, like he was fiddling with an arrow that wasn’t there. Definitely some form of psychological trauma, Lance absently thought, just as the Arrow’s demeanor changed.

He went from mad to pleading. ‘Please, let her go. Don’t hurt her.’ And that shocked Lance into silence. That, and the way the Arrow held himself. He was still tense, all of his muscles looked clenched, but his body was bent forward from the waist. He was far from Felicity, but he was edging towards her.

And Felicity was looking only at him, shaking her head ever so slightly. She was the one looking desperate now, but it was directed towards the Arrow, not towards the mobster. ‘Not again’, she whispered, and Lance read her lips more than he heard her. ‘Not for me.’

‘Shut up, bitch’, the mobster hissed and before anybody had time to react, he shot Felicity in the stomach.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, there was just a defying silence surrounding them. The, the Arrow growled, and set everything in motion. Lance quickly drew his gun and aimed it at the mobster, but he was already shooting towards Diggle’s direction, who also had his gun drawn. He shot him in the shoulder, and Lance shot him in the leg. The mobster fell to the floor, crying in pain, and the detective quickly made his way towards him, throwing his gun away and radioing for ambulances.

He handcuffed the guy to a chair, and made his way towards Felicity. She was already untied, and lying on the floor. Diggle was pressing his hands to her stomach, and that must have hurt, but she wasn’t screaming. Instead, she was holding onto the Arrow’s hand, and looking up at him, her head resting in his lap.

‘Please, go, you can’t have the Police find you here. Go, please, go.’, she begged, tears falling down her face. He kept wiping them away.

‘No’.

‘I’ll be fine. It’s a through and through, I’m pretty sure it didn’t hit anything’.

‘You can’t know that’, he hissed. ‘I’m not leaving.’

‘I’m not going to leave you either, you know’, she said, managing to sound sarcastic. ‘Not because of a stupid bullet.’

She reached up to him, placing a hand on his cheek. The Arrow bent his body towards her again, his shoulders sagging and head falling forward. He took her hand away from his face, but didn’t let go.

‘Go.’, she whispered once again. ‘Please.’

‘Backup will be here in 1 minute’, Lance said, awkwardly sitting on the floor next to Felicity.

The Arrow growled once again, but then he put a hand under Felicity’s head, and rested their foreheads together. It looked very intimate, and Lance felt like he was interrupting a very important moment.

‘I’ll see you soon’, the Arrow told her in a very soft voice, even if he still had the voice modulator turned on. Then, he kissed her forehead, keeping his lips to her skin long enough for Felicity to close her eyes and return the statement.

Once he left, Lance took the Arrow’s place, keeping Felicity’s head off the ground and holding her hand. The EMTs came quickly, and then she was sitting in the back of an ambulance, Diggle by her side.

‘I’ll follow you to the hospital’, Lance told him. He got a nod in return. The Detective looked towards Felicity, who had her eyes shut tight, and she was breathing heavily, probably in pain. He put a hand on her ankle, squeezing gently.

‘I’ll call Queen. Do you want me to call anyone else?’. She shook her head, and so did Diggle.

‘Let me call Oliver’, he forcefully told the Detective. ‘He’ll freak out , it’s better if he hears it from me.’

Lance nodded and went to his car. It was hours before Felicity was out of surgery, the doctors telling them that she’s out of danger. Oliver Queen spent this time slumped in a chair, by Diggle’s side, nervously clenching his fists. He was angry, for some reason, and that threw Lance off.

When he saw Oliver rubbing his fingers together, exactly like he saw the Arrow doing a couple of hours before, Lance once again thought about how Oliver could be the Arrow. About how they both cared for Felicity, and about how she cared for both of them.

It wasn’t evidence, though. It was circumstantial, so Lance didn’t say anything.

But then Felicity woke up. And Oliver was rushing towards the room she was in, Diggle and Lance following at a slower pace. When they got to the room, Oliver was bent over her bed, one hand on her neck, eyes closed and kissing her forehead. His other hand was in both of hers, resting over her chest.

The sight was very familiar, and it made Lance pause in the doorway.

After Oliver detached himself from Felicity, Diggle made his way towards her, giving her a one armed hug, kissing her temple.

‘Don’t do that again’, he said gruffly, and Felicity giggled.

‘A stupid bullet isn’t going to stop me’, she grinned.

‘I hate it when you say that’, Oliver sighed, grabbing a glass of water and handling it to her.

As she drank, she noticed Lance standing there.

‘Detective’, she smiled. ‘Do I need to give a statement?’

He shook his head. ‘No, mine and Mr. Diggle’s were enough.’

‘Thank you’, she nodded seriously, and it made Lance smile.

‘You know, just once I wish I’d see you without an investigation or the Arrow looming around the corner’.

Felicity giggled. ‘Once I get these two’, she pointed at Oliver and Diggle, ‘to stop fussing over me, I’ll take you out for coffee.’

‘Deal’, Lance smiled, finally looking at Oliver, who was watching him with a small frown on his face.

‘And next time you call me, Mr. Queen, please turn off that horrible voice modulator. It gives me the creeps.’

Oliver’s eyes widened slightly, but he covered it quickly. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Lance threw him an unimpressed look, but then looked toward Felicity, who was watching him with wide eyes and a cautious expression on her face. He winked at her.

‘Convince him to do it, will you? It’ll help with my sanity, what's left of it, anyway.’

She spared a glance towards Oliver, but then she nodded slightly. Lance took that as a win.

‘The doctor said you should rest, sweetheart’, he smiled. ‘I’ll leave you to it. Call if you need anything.’

He left without sparing another glance at Oliver or Diggle, and the first thing he did once outside of Felicity’s room, was to call Laurel.

‘Hi, dad.’, she answered, but Lance didn’t really feel up for pleasantries.

‘Oliver, huh?’

‘What about him?’, Laurel asked, slowly.

‘Has a thing for green leather and sharp objects’, the detective deadpanned. When Laurel didn’t say anything, he continued.

‘And just how in love is he with Felicity? She was kidnapped, by the way, and shot. She’s okay, though, the doctors say she’ll be fine, but I don’t know if he’ll be, cause the poor kid looked like he was having three different heart attacks every time he saw her, and about five every other minute he didn’t see her.’

Laurel started laughing.


	28. There were band t-shirts and leather, sometimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _felicity having a badboy ex who she left to chase a better life at MIT, her running into him years later and oliver is there to witness the whole thing! i rly need this plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changed it a bit, he left her. Ish.   
> Spot the (slightly out of character) sourwolf.

Felicity was already grumpy to begin with, she had a long night at the Foundry, slept just a couple of hours, and had a very long day ahead of her at QC. And now, she was rushing out of Starbucks, to go bag in her hand, filled with coffee for her, Oliver and John, who were waiting outside in the car, with flimsy excuses of 'what if there's paparazzi?' and 'what if I need to move the car?'.

Felicity was quite grumpy. 

She wasn’t really looking when she stepped outside of the coffee shop, rushing despite her high heels, so she yelped when she collided with something. A man’s chest, her brain supplied, but because she was looking down, all she saw was his dark boots, light jeans with a couple of chains going into his pocket, a black t-shirt and a black leather jacket.

The only reason why she managed to look up was the surprised, but whispered ‘Felicity?’ the man said, while steadying her with his hands on her shoulders.

‘Derek?’, she squealed with wide eyes, starring at his stubbled jaw. That was new. So was his hair, black and thick, but styled up at the front. He still had the gorgeous green eyes she knew, framed by the bushy brows, and the smug smile that used to give Felicity butterflies in her stomach.

‘Hi’, he breathed out, blinking a couple of times and finally letting go of her. He took a small step back, but didn’t leave.

‘Felicity’, she heard Oliver’s sweet, but concerned tone, and of course he got out of the car when he saw a biker’s arms on her. ‘Everything alright?’

Oliver came to stand next to Felicity, absently running his hand down her upper arm to her elbow, all the while glaring at Derek. Who raised a very surprised eyebrow, but it was directed at Oliver, not at Felicity.

‘Yeah’, she sighed. ‘Derek, this is Oliver Queen, my boss. Oliver, this is Derek, an ex’, the word caught in her throat, so there was a pause. ‘An ex-friend’, she continued, hoping the men would ignore the awkward glitch.

They shook hands, forcefully, by the looks of it, but none of them even flinched. Oliver was glaring, and Derek was glaring right back, but with a small smirk on his face. And Felicity just realized that most of the men she was attracted to were the brooding type, glaring and huffing and puffing most of the time. Except Barry. She really didn’t want to think about Barry anymore.

‘Oh’, Derek turned to her, ‘I’m not your friend anymore?’

Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘We haven’t talked in 8 years. Yeah, you’re not my friend anymore. What are you doing in Starling?’, she asked him, ignoring the way Oliver was looking at him.

‘Visiting my bro’, he grinned.

‘Which one?’, Felicity raised an eyebrow, making Derek snort.

‘My real bro. He moved here after college, since that was the trend.’, he threw her a _look_ , making Felicity cringe slightly. But he didn’t stop talking. ‘Yeah, he was living in the Glades when the whole earthquake thing happened. He wasn’t hurt or anything, and he moved somewhere else while the house got fixed. And now that that’s done, I came to help him with the painting and furniture and all that crap. You know how he is, can’t make a single decision for himself.’

‘I vaguely remember, yeah’, Felicity chuckled, despite herself.

‘So I’m gonna be in town for a couple of months, probably.’, Derek grinned, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. ‘Think we could get a coffee some time?’

Felicity’s jaw dropped.

‘Not like that’, he quickly assured, chuckling. ‘I just…’, he frowned. ‘I don’t know shit around here, and you know I don’t deal well with change. You’re a familiar face’, Derek smiled then, eyes ranking down her body, stopping at her cleavage. She was wearing the short red dress today, the one with a triangle cut on her chest, and cream high heels. When Derek’s eyes didn’t move up, Felicity lightly punched him in the stomach, in sync with Oliver’s light growl.

‘Asswhole’, she muttered.

Derek grinned unbashfully. ‘No, really, it’s not gonna be like that, promise. Just coffee. And catching up. We could do that, right?’, he playfully raised an eyebrow. ‘We’re adults.’

Felicity regarded him for a moment, but in the end she sighed, reaching in the side pocket of her bag. She pulled out her card holder and handed Derek one of her business cards. It wasn’t anything fancy, just standard QC design, to which she added a very subtle purple undertone.

‘Executive Asistant?’, Derek raised both his eyebrows. ‘Last time I checked, you were just a boring IT nerd.’

Felicity scoffed. ‘Yeah, well, last time I checked, you didn’t have a Harley’, she waved her hand at the bike behind him. It was beautiful, but a bit too flashy, even for her.

Derek grinned and slipped the card in his back pocket, playfully winking at her.

‘We have to go to work’, Felicity shook her head, finally looking at Oliver. Who had his arms crossed over his chest and he was glaring daggers at Derek, a tick in his jaw. It would have been adorable and lovely, if they actually were together. But they weren’t, so it just felt very unnecessary.

‘Nice to meet you, dude’, Derek grinned at Oliver, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

‘Don’t call me dude’, Oliver said, gravely, raising an eyebrow at the hand on his body.

Derek removed his hand and raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Then, he looked toward Felicity.

‘I’ll call you.’

‘You do that.’, she sighed, making her way to the car. Oliver followed her, putting a hand on her lower back.

Once they got in the car, Diggle didn’t drive right away. Instead, he was twisted in his seat, looking intently at Felicity. So was Oliver, next to her.

‘What?’, she sighed.

‘Who the hell was that guy?’, Diggle said, with feeling.

‘My first boyfriend. All the way through high school’, she said in a straight voice. Diggle’s eyes grew wide and he raised an eyebrow.

‘Did he look like that in high school?’

Felicity tilted her head. ‘There were more studs. And ripped jeans. And his hair was blue. Sometimes green.’

‘How did you look in high school?’, Oliver asked, a slightly alarmed edge to his voice.

Felicity smiled, despite herself. ‘There were band t-shirts. And leather, sometimes. The purple lips came at a young age.’

There was a pause. Diggle broke it, by breathing out an impressed _wow_. Felicity snorted.

‘We really need to get to work, John’, she said softly, reaching for her seat belt.

There drive was silent, but half way through, Oliver surprised her.

‘Why did you break up?’, he asked softly.

Felicity turned to look at him, and took a deep breath before she answered.

‘He called it off when I left for college. Said he didn’t think he could be able to handle it, the distance, that we wouldn’t make it. Broke my heart, but he was right. It was better on the long run.’

Oliver frowned. ‘So you’re not going to see him.’, he stated, but there was a question underneath.

Felicity shrugged. ‘I think I will, if I have time. He’s a smart guy, that’s what I always liked about him. Plus, if I’m being honest’, she blushed, ‘I really wanna get on that Harley.’

Oliver frowned, then raised his eyebrows, then he ran a hand down his face, then he pointed a finger at her, frowning some more. ‘You never wanted to get on my bikes.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘Did you ever ask me to?’

That threw Oliver in a … state. He stared at her for a few seconds, jaw dropped. Then, he turned his head forward, closed his mouth, and started blinking rapidly. He was silent for a long time, but as Diggle was pulling the car in QC’s underground parking lot, Oliver put a hand on Felicity’s, startling her.

He was looking intently at her, staring into her eyes and squeezing her hand.

‘Tonight’, he said in a low voice, ‘I’m going to drive you home from The Foundry.’ There was a pause, in which she nodded slightly. ‘On the Ducati.’

‘The one with a bit of red?’, she whispered.

Oliver nodded, slowly, while Felicity’s hear beat picked up, and there were sparks where their skin touched. The pressure was too much for her to handle, so she smiled cheekily and giggled.

‘It matches my dress.’

Oliver took a deep breath and smirked. ‘Should’ve worn a longer dress.’

 _Oh crap_ , Felicity thought. Oliver just smirked and got out of the car.


	29. You could look better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [soulphur](http://soulphur.tumblr.com) asked: _I thought of a prompt that could be really fluffy if you want to tackle it: Oliver has freckles but not on his face. Because lets be real, hes gotta have some freckles from island time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took your prompt and played with it a bit. I hope that's okay :), this probably isn't what you expected.  
> Emily Bett Rickards posted that first picture on instagram and I just could not get it out of my head.

Felicity was trying really hard not to laugh her ass off. She was, but it was unsuccessful. So when she started laughing, she covered her mouth with both her hands. It didn’t help, it only muffled the sound a bit, but the echo in the Foundry made her hysterics be heard by Oliver, who was up on the salmon ladder. Felicity turned away from her monitors, hoping that if she didn’t see the article, she’d stop laughing. She didn’t.

Oliver quickly made his way towards her, watching her with raised eyebrows, putting a hand on her shoulder, which was still shaking.

‘What?’, he asked simply and Felicity just shook her head and pointed at the monitors.

Oliver turned to them, and his face fell when he saw two picture of him, on a well-known gossip website, wearing just a pair of jeans, drenched in water. His hair was wet, the jeans were sticking _everywhere_ , he had a frown on his face, a t-shirt in his hand and he was barefoot.

Felicity knew the pictures was taken yesterday, on top of his apartment building. She was there too, taking pictures as well, of the massive water fight Oliver and Thea got into. Felicity never saw them so carefree, she didn’t even remember why they started it. They were all enjoying themselves, and clearly too busy to look around. If they had, they might have seen the paparazzi that was on the roof of the next apartment building, since that was clearly where the pictures were taken from.

‘What?’, Oliver frowned at screen, taking his hand off Felicity’s shoulder.

‘Just read it’, she managed to wheeze out.

And Oliver did, getting more and more angry with every second that passed.

He was right to do so, because the article was absolutely infuriating. It started off by briefly explaining the setting, then continued with a few long paragraphs about how good Oliver looked. It talked about his arms, his abs, his fingers, his waist, his collarbone, every curve that was visible. They used words as ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’, ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’, but they even used ‘fuckable’ and ‘pornographic’.

Then, the article talked about his tattoos and scars. That’s where everything went to hell. Because the author started bashing on Oliver, about how they didn’t understand why he would ruin such a gorgeous body with such horrible tattoos. How they were ugly and badly placed, how they were done very unprofessionally and how they were very tasteless.

But then, the gay guy (Felicity checked) who wrote the article, addressed the scars. How he doesn’t know how Oliver got them, but how he doesn’t want to find out, because that will ruin the mystery of it. How they made Oliver seem so strong and capable of taking care of himself and the ones around him, _and who doesn’t want a strong man, and I right, ladies and gents?_. That the scars made the writer think even more about how many muscles Oliver has on his body and how he uses those muscles, holding his girlfriends up against a wall, or getting sweaty in the gym.

By this point, Oliver was fuming. He was reading with wide eyes, breathing heavily through his nose, clenching his fists on the table. But he didn’t stop reading.

The article started talking about his freckles, then. How there were a lot of them, on his entire body, and the writer started pondering how Oliver got them. If they’re actually genetic, or if they’re caused by prolonged exposure to sun light. It was the only time the island was mentioned, towards the ending of the article, in a context that made even Felicity cringe. _So he stayed on an island for 5 years. Must have been sunny, considering how many freckles he got_. _So my question is, were there clothes on that island? Or if Oliver Queen would take off his pants, would there be freckles on his legs too? And between them?_

The guy ended the article with a very hateful and hurtful paragraph, stating that while the muscle work is exquisite, the rest of Oliver’s problems, that he usually hides under his shirts, would explain why he hadn’t managed to keep a steady girlfriend since he came back.

Oliver turned to her slowly, a very shocked and slightly hurt look on his face.

‘Read the comments’, Felicity smiled at him. ‘That’s what made me laugh.’

Because the comments were absolutely amazing. Oliver didn’t really think he had fans, but Felicity knew he did. And they were dedicated. Every single comment on the article started off by insulting the writer, some more violently than others.

Some explained why he was wrong ( _I’m pretty sure those tattoos were done traditionally, with natural ink and a heated needle. They look pretty fucking amazing, considering_.), some explained why he was stupid ( _You do realize the scars are a sign of torture, right? How can you think about how strong Oliver is, when all they’re saying is that he went through Hell?_ ), some were just picking on him (Y _ou were disrespectful in the beginning, and went on to being a complete asshole. You’re a sick man for saying any of this, knowing what he went through. It’s really not your place to judge a tattoo, fucker, and it’s absolutely not your place to comment on scars_.), and some pointed out the obvious ( _It says a lot, about Oliver Queen, that he hasn't once shown his body in public since he came back, not like this. These pictures were taken without his consent, and we should respect that_.).

Felicity had two favorite comments. One was by an older woman she knew worked at QC, in the accounting department. _You should really read the last article about Oliver Queen posted on this website. It talks about how he donated 2 million dollars to Glade Memorial Hospital, for the construction of a wing dedicated to child care. And about how he keeps donating toys monthly, delivering them personally and spending time with the kids. Then you should really ask your poor excuse of a soul if talking about Oliver’s body is really worth it._

And the second one Felicity loved, the one that made her burst out laughing, was posted by the username ‘TheaMotherfuckingQueen’: _It’s funny, you never expressed any of these concerns last year, when you were begging me for my brother’s number, saying you would do anything just so you could suck his cock. That being said, fuck you! I really hope you keep your job. … That was a lie._

After he finished reading, Oliver turned to Felicity once again, a frown between his eyes.

‘I hacked into the guy’s e-mail inbox’, Felicity grinned. ‘He got fired, and while nobody said it, I’m pretty sure Thea had something to do with it.’

Oliver didn’t say anything, but instead turned his back to her, and rushed to put on a shirt. And that, that was weird, and it made Felicity frown.

‘Hey’, she said softly. ‘Tell me you don’t care about it.’

He slowly turned to her, but he didn’t say anything. There was still hurt in his eyes, and that made Felicity take a few steps forward, stopping in front of him.

‘Tell me you don’t care about what some douchebag on the internet thinks about how you look.’

‘It wasn’t…’, he shook his head. ‘It wasn’t a problem before. Yeah, everybody was shocked when they saw them, but it… wasn’t something I even thought of.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re not this vain.’

Oliver huffed. ‘No, I’m not, but…’. He took his eyes off her and looked down, to the side.

‘But what?’, she pushed. ‘I’m pretty sure you could still have any woman you want, scars and tattoos and freckles included. They wouldn’t care about that, not when it’s you.’

That made him cringe. ‘I know that. But you also know I’m not how I was before the island, I’m not looking for those type of women anymore, the type who would get past anything just to get in my bed.’

‘So what’s the problem?’, Felicity asked softly.

He still wasn’t looking at her, and he was talking slowly. ‘I’m looking for the type of woman who’d stay more than one night. One weak, one year. And the scars and tattoos, they’re not something you grow accustomed to.’

‘I cannot believe we’re having this conversation’, Felicity sighed, but raised her hand to his chest, right above the Bratva tattoo, even if it was covered by his shirt.

‘The woman you’re looking for’, Felicity spoke softly, ‘will not care about them. The scars, the tattoos, nothing. She’ll want to know about them, how you got them and what they mean to you. She’ll want to catalog them in her mind, she’ll want to trace her fingertips over them, in hope of drawing some of your pain away. She’ll care about the freckles, though. Because freckles are hereditary, and that means your child might have them.’

Oliver finally looked up at her, seemingly shocked. His lips was slightly parted and his eyes moved between hers, her lips and the hand she still had on his chest. He grabbed her wrist and squeezed gently, sighing out a long breath. He didn’t seem tense anymore.

‘You should call Thea’, Felicity smiled. ‘Make sure nobody’s going to sue her.’

Oliver nodded, but took a few more seconds to move. Felicity didn’t say anything more.

The next morning, though, there was another article about Oliver on the same website. It started with a small disclaimer, the site apologizing for the previous article, and continued with a detailed essay on Oliver’s dressing style, since coming back from the island. _From club-owner to CEO, from Saturday Night Fever to Rock You Like a Hurricane_ , the article was called, and it was filled with pictures of Oliver from different events, charity balls and Verdant parties, press conferences at the office or random appearances.

The brilliant thing was that Oliver was smiling in all of these pictures. The funny thing was that Felicity appeared in half of the pictures, either by his side or one step behind him.

It was a good article, because not only the writer only had good things to say about Oliver’s fashion choices, but it also revealed quotes from different interviews Oliver had in the past. So the person reading this article would find out about his charity work, about what he does at QC, about how he feels about certain important topics in modern society. And so on and so forth.

Felicity smiled while reading the article, quite proudly. Even though she was in front of her computer at work, and that Oliver was at his desk, just a glass wall separating them, Felicity didn’t e-mail him the article.

Instead, she texted him the link, so she could add a picture she randomly took a couple of days back, something that caught her eye while walking down the street.

 

( _I can't find the picture again, but. It was a street graffiti saying "You look great naked")_

Oliver stared at the phone for a very long time. Then, he stared at Felicity for a very long time. Then, he shook his head and went back to his phone. He texted her.

Felicity frowned and looked down at her dress. It was a nice dress, Oliver said so himself that morning. So she looked over at him, prepared to demand explanations.

But Oliver was watching her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his lips, while he was very slowly taking of his tie.

When it hit Felicity, why he sent that, what it meant, why he was taking off his clothes… she e-mailed HR telling them that Oliver and her both will be taking a personal day tomorrow.


	30. Irrationally angry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [bluemorgana](http://bluemorgana.tumblr.com) asked: _I miss a proverbial bantering between Oliver and Felicity and I love the sexual tension between them so I was thinking to a situation like: Felicity is extremely sexy (dress, shoes, behavior…), Oliver is furious because he finds it hard to accept it - I think he’s so heavy on denial of their chemistry it’d be a shock for him to slam against it -and they start to argue very badly. Diggle and Thea (or Roy, Quentin, all of them if you want…) watch amused exchanging bets. The end is up to you, if you feel like writing it._
> 
> Or, three times when Oliver popped an angry, inappropriate boner, and one time it was appropriate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This doesn't exactly fit your prompt, but it's close enough, I think.  
>  **HERE'S SOMETHING HAPPY, CAUSE THE SEASON FINALE AIRS IN 3 HOURS AND OH GOD IT'S GONNA HURT.**

It was getting harder for Oliver. He always thought Felicity was attractive, even when she was wearing simple skirts and boring work shirts, a lanyard hanging around her neck. There was a peak in his attention, the moment Felicity became his EA. Because her wardrobe changed, drastically. A lot of dresses came into the mix, short and tight, with revealing necklines and paired with high heels.

But Oliver was able to move past it. He still admired Felicity’s body, because she really did look incredible on a normal day, even if she was wearing jeans and work shirts again. He tried to keep their relationship as not romantic as possible, especially after the events from Russia and after what Slade did.

When Slade took Felicity, she told Oliver that she loved him. His heart broke then, seeing her like that, with Slade’s blade on her neck, crying but holding herself strong. He loved her too, Oliver knew that, but he couldn’t say it out loud. So he fought. He fought for her, he fought Slade, and with the help of his uncanny allies, Slade was killed, and Felicity was safe.

They didn’t talk about it, not really. Days later, Felicity just stared him down and told him again ‘I love you, and I know you love me too, that much is clear. We need each other, so don’t you dare push me away because you think I’d be safer. That’s not happening, I’m still by your side.’

Oliver couldn’t say anything to that. So he just accepted the hug she offered and they went back to work, together. They helped the city as much as they could, they rebuilt the Foundry, easily, because Felicity had experience with it. Then, they worked together on getting back his company.

And when that was done, Team Arrow went back to normal. Long days spent in QC, dealing with investors, board members and other infuriating things. Long nights spent in the foundry, Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, Roy, sometimes Laurel and Sara working side by side in making Starling a safer city.

Oliver was in a good place. Everything felt normal again.

But now, now he was struggling. He doesn’t understand why this is happening now, but Oliver can’t stop thinking about Felicity, about him and Felicity. And that makes him feel uneasy, to say the least.

It all started the day she wore _that dress_ , short but not too tight, with a cleavage that didn’t show much, but made Oliver wish it would. It was his color. The dress was dark green, with random black stripes, creating a plaid pattern.

It made Oliver furious. The third time he caught himself staring at Felicity, at her legs or at her breasts, he closed his eyes and cursed. Yes, Felicity was a very attractive woman, but he had to tamper it down, his want and attraction. Because it was Felicity, and he couldn’t afford that. He managed to do it until now, thinking objectively about how well she looks, he was able to wash away all thoughts of her naked body in his bed, so why couldn’t he do that now?

Oliver had a really long day at work, that day. Once he got to the Foundry, though, he calmed down slightly, focusing on the job.

He changed into his suit and went over to Felicity, where she sat at her computers and she quickly started to explain the mission they were on tonight, coming up with a plan. It was simple enough, and Oliver focused on it. When there was a pause in their discussion, Oliver looking over a map and trying to memorize it, Roy’s voice startled him and Felicity both.

‘Awh’, the younger man snickered, ‘Felicity’s wearing clothes that match Oliver’s suit’.

They both froze. Felicity looked down at her dress, then to Oliver’s suit. She looked up at him, staring with wide eyes and mouth slightly open, and that pushed Oliver’s heart on a rampage, and all the blood rushed between his legs. He didn’t let it show, but he knew he looked just as shocked as she did.

Felicity turned to Roy, finally, an affronted look on her face.

‘Are you judging me, Harper?’

‘No’, Roy scoffed. ‘Of course not, my Lady’, he said, very sarcastically, pairing his answer with a ridiculous bowing gesture.

‘It’s Queen to you’, Felicity snapped, and Oliver instantly turned to her, his eyebrows rising onto his forehead.

‘I mean’, Felicity stammered, looking at him with wide eyes and a flush on her cheeks. ‘No, not like that, not like Mrs. Queen, I meant like he should call me his Queen, not your Queen, obviously. We’re not married, of course, why would he call me Mrs. Queen? He should call me his Queen, though, because I rule, of course, that’s what I meant. Felicity Queen sounds really weird, anyway.’

As she talked, she kept raising her hands in front of her in a surrendering gesture, and her blush intensified. When she said the last sentence, there was a deep frown on her face, and Oliver couldn’t help the sadness that washed over him, in sync with the tingle in his pants.

He was talking before he even realized it.

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Miss Smoak.’ Oliver’s voice was low, lower than he intended, and Felicity froze.

Then, she scoffed and raised an eyebrow. ‘You know I love you, Oliver’, she responded easily, with a hand on his shoulder, ‘but your flirting game is a bit off tonight.’

He blinked. ‘I’m not flirting, you’re flirting.’

‘I am not!’, she replied, poking his chest with a finger. ‘I was babbling, it’s what I do, you know that. It shouldn’t surprise you anymore.’

Oliver scoffed, batting her hand away, trying to put more space between them. ‘You were the one who referred to yourself as Mrs. Queen. I just responded accordingly, don’t blame me for your faulty brain.’

‘My brain is not faulty’, she hissed. ‘It’s just more powerful than my mouth. And shut up, this is Roy’s fault.’

‘He’s not the one who called you Mrs. Felicity Queen’, Oliver pointed out, a frown still between his eyebrows.

Felicity pulled a face. ‘That still sounds weird.’

There was a pause. ‘I’m offended by that’, Oliver finally said, voice softer that before.

Felicity spluttered, making weird noises from the back of her throat and waving her arms around.

‘Well god forbid’, she hissed, ‘you find a woman who’s not interested in being your wife!’

‘Excuse me?’, Oliver raised an eyebrow.

‘Just because every other woman wants to get in your pants’, she kept poking at his chest, ‘and just because they all want access to your bank accounts and fame, doesn’t mean we’re all the same. Plus’, she rolled her eyes, ‘I have all that already, it’s not so appealing anymore.’

‘Excuse me?’, Oliver said again, but this time it was high pitched and incredulous.

Felicity raised her hands and counted off on her fingers. ‘I get in your pants on a daily basis, cleaning up and suturing wounds, I have access to your bank accounts because I need it for Arrow stuff, and even if you haven’t granted me that, I would’ve easily done it myself, being a hacking genius and all. And last, but not least, I’m by your side every time press is around, and the tabloids started calling me _the EA who won’t leave her CEO’s side_ , they’re calling us _the inseparable power duo_ , so there you go, I have all the fame I never wanted.’

Oliver just looked at her for a couple of seconds, jaw dropped and eyes wide. He sighed and threw her a very dark look.

‘You’re insufferable.’

Felicity grinned, much to his annoyance. ‘And remarkable, as you said so yourself. So get your head in the game, Oliver, you have a job to do.’

She started talking about the mission again, quickly rattling off information and Oliver found himself listening, and he forgot about the anger he felt, or the problem in his pants.

That was until he was out in the field, Roy by his side.

‘I’m sorry about earlier’, he said, startling Oliver. ‘That escalated quickly, and I feel like that was my fault.’

‘It wasn’t’, Oliver shook his head.

‘I hate seeing you two fight’, Roy admitted, quietly, surprising Oliver into silence. ‘You’re two of the strongest people I know and your relationship is something to be jealous of, you could easily take over the world.’

It took a long time for Oliver to answer, and when he did, the words he said were mostly for Roy’s benefit. ‘That’s not going to change. No matter how much Felicity and I fight, we’ll always do our job. And that stands for serious fights too, not just ridiculous ones like this one was.’

‘Damn right’, Felicity cheerfully exclaimed in his ear, and Oliver completely forgot their comm links were on. ‘Now, boys, please stop angsting and focus on the job. There are three guards coming your way.’

‘On it’, Oliver sighed, wondering for what felt like the billionth time, why was Felicity still by his side.

→→←←

Oliver didn’t want to call Felicity into the Foundry on her night off, but there really wasn’t any other choice. Lance was kidnapped by a mobster, one of the many that arose after Slade, and Oliver had no way to track him down. He needed Felicity and he knew how much she cared for Lance. So he called her, and 10 minutes later, she was rushing down the Foundry steps.

And Oliver paused, visibly, breath catching in his throat. He couldn’t see exactly what Felicity was wearing, but he had a feeling that was for the best. All Oliver could see was the very high black stilettos she was wearing, higher than any shoe he ever saw her in, the knee-high red trench coat that hid her clothes, to the point where Oliver was wondering if she was wearing anything underneath, her hair, up and styled in a slick bun, and her minimalistic eye makeup, paired with a black lipstick.

Oliver was staring, he realized as much. Felicity was wearing black lipstick and black stilettos, and even though he would never admit it, his dick stirred in his pants.

But then she started yelling, demanding information and explanations, and Oliver shook his head and got his mind out of the gutter. Thankfully for him, Felicity sat down at her computers without taking off her trench coat, so he was able to focus on finding Lance.

He found him, quickly enough, Roy and Diggle at his side and Felicity’s voice in his ear. When they made their way back to the Foundry, Oliver almost tripped down the stairs.

Because Felicity had taken off her trench coat and Oliver was left staring at her, in a tight black corset, simpler than the one Sara has in her suit, and a short leather skirt, also black. Her legs seemed endless because of the stilettos and her lipstick was still perfectly black.

‘Why’, he said, but his voice cracked, ‘why are you wearing that?’

Felicity blushed furiously, but she didn’t back down. ‘I was at a party.’

‘Sex party?’, Roy grinned.

‘Sure’, Felicity didn’t miss a beat. ‘I left my whip and handcuffs in the car.’

Oliver was just staring at her, struggling to keep his eyes on her face, and she must have seen something in the way he was looking, because she snorted and shook her head.

‘It was a masked avantgarde party. The mask is in the car, it was bright pink.’

‘You look absolutely fuckable’, Roy grinned, making Oliver groan.

Felicity pointed a finger at the younger man. ‘Do not objectify me!’ Then, she grinned. ‘But thank you, I do feel absolutely fuckable.’

Oliver dropped his bow.

Everybody turned to look at him, but he was only looking at Felicity. At her face, only at her face, willing his heart beat to go slower and begging his blood to stop rushing to his groin.

‘Is there a problem?’, Felicity arched an eyebrow.

Oliver shook his head. ‘Aren’t you cold?’, he managed to say.

Roy snorted and Digg facepalmed. They both ignored them.

Felicity took a few steps towards Oliver and crossed her hands over her chest, which was not helping Oliver. At all. He took a deep breath and stared into Felicity’s eyes.

‘Does my level of nakedness make you uncomfortable?’, she asked, seemingly amused.

There was no right answer to that, Oliver thought. So he bit his lip to keep quiet.

Felicity continued, with a raised eyebrow and a shake of her head.

‘It really shouldn’t, considering I never say anything about your usual nakedness. That you keep inflicting on others, because Digg and Roy hopped on that trend too. Hell, even Sara did.’

‘What are you talking about?’, Roy frowned from somewhere behind Oliver. Felicity didn’t spare him a glance, still watching Oliver.

‘You’re always shirtless!’, she hissed loudly. ‘When you’re on the mats, when you’re shooting arrows, when you’re making arrows! Hell, yesterday I saw you sweeping the floor without a shirt on!’

‘So?’, Oliver saw Roy coming by his side, arms crossed and posture radiating confidence.

Felicity sighed and looked between the two of them. Then she smiled, and it looked a bit evil from Oliver’s perspective. She raised her hands, touching both his and Roy’s shoulders. She ran her hands up and down their arms, then onto their chests and up to the neck, tracing their jawline and gently scratching their cheeks.

Oliver couldn’t breathe. So he closed his eyes, willing his semi-erection to stop, he wanted everything to stop at this point.

‘What the hell are you doing?’, Roy asked in an annoyed voice, but Oliver noted that he didn’t move away from Felicity’s touch.

She took her hands away, and quickly wiped the smile off her face, glaring at them in that certain way that let Oliver know she was about to use her loud voice. He was correct.

‘You are all incredibly attractive!’, she waved her hands around. ‘You’re hot, beautiful, gorgeous, out of these world Greek gods! And me, lil’ ol’ me, I have to be the one to just stand here, surrounded by abs and biceps and sweaty collarbones and not mention it.’

She took a deep breath and a small step backwards. ‘And I do it, it’s okay, because you’re my big brothers and I don’t want to climb you like a tree, except you know, if I met a stranger that looked like you, I’d climb him like a tree.’ She turned to Oliver and looked at him pointedly. ‘So don’t you dare act like me in a corset makes you uncomfortable. At least it’s something!’

Oliver groaned, he couldn’t help it. ‘It’s not the corset’, he said more forcefully than he would have wanted. ‘It’s the short skirts and the high heels, it’s the cleavages and the lipstick. So don’t act like we’re the only ones in the Foundry that look edible all the time.’

It took him a second to realize what he said, and when he did, Oliver froze. Felicity was watching him with an alarming shade of red on her cheeks, and he knew he was blushing just as furiously. Roy nudged his elbow in his stomach, but Oliver ignored it.

Felicity seemed amused again, and that, more than anything, made Oliver’s anger spike. Because there wasn’t anything amusing about this situation.

‘Would you rather I’d wear pants and t-shirts all the time? I don’t think that’s appropriate attire for the CEO’s EA.’

‘I don’t care what you wear’, Oliver hissed. ‘So you shouldn’t care about what I don’t wear.’

He finally managed to move his legs after that, rushing to the bathroom to change out of his suit, ignoring Roy’s laughter and Felicity’s replies of ‘that made no sense’.

She was gone by the time he came out of the bathroom. Diggle asked him if he was feeling alright. Oliver told him that he needed a drink and possibly a therapist.

John laughed. ‘You know, if you and Felicity don’t get together in the next 2 months, I owe Roy a hundred bucks.’

Oliver nodded and picked up Roy’s training arrows, aiming them at Diggle’s head.

→→←←

Thea’s parties will be the end of Oliver, clearly. He hated every single second of them, but he had to play the supporting brother role, especially when Thea was raising money for some charity.

So here he was, at Verdant on a Friday night, dressed in a white suit because that was the dress code for this party and feeling like a doubchebag because of it. He had to fake a warm smile at every one who talked at him, and he did his best to politely push away every woman who came on to him.

‘Did Thea put something in the drinks?’, Felicity’s voice came from his right. ‘Or did all the men just become bigger douchebags than before?’

When he turned towards her, Oliver’s jaw dropped. His brain thought that Felicity wasn’t going to look good dressed in all white, because of her pale skin, but he was wrong, so wrong. She was wearing a simple dress, with a deep V-neck and short sleeves, tight on her torso, but turning into a vaporous skirt, that moved in waves every time Felicity took a step, that ended above at her knees. She had a big white clutch and a pair of bright yellow pumps. Her hair was up and her lips were a glossy purple.

His brain caught up after a beat, and he registered what Felicity said.

‘Did someone hurt you?’, he put a hand on her elbow, and he saw red flash before his eyes just at the thought of someone touching Felicity.

‘No’, she frowned, confused. Then, her eyes grew wide and she quickly put a hand over his. ‘No, no, nobody hurt me, they just seem a bit more pushy tonight.’

Oliver sighed, relieved. He looked down towards where their hands were touching, and Felicity quickly took it away.

‘Well you do look gorgeous tonight’, he finally said, smiling sincerely at her.

‘Thank you.’, she answered slowly after a beat, taking her eyes off him. ‘You don’t usually say that.’

‘I’m always thinking it’, Oliver said quickly, and did his best not to flinch when he realized he said it out loud.

Felicity regarded him for a few seconds, searching for something. She must have found it, because she smiled.

‘So you don’t tell me because you don’t want to spoil me?’, she said in an amused tone. But she raised her hand to scratch the skin under her collarbone, and Oliver took a deep breath. Her nails were painted a pale yellow, and her long fingers moved quickly over her pale skin.

Once again, Oliver felt his dick getting very interested, very quickly. He wanted to weep, because his body was betraying him in the most inopportune moments.

‘I do spoil you’, he told Felicity, and it came out much more strongly than it should. ‘I buy you all the tech you want.’

‘Need, Oliver’, she responded forcefully. ‘All the tech we _need_ ’.

He snorted. ‘Did we really _need_ that 3D printer?’

Felicity gasped, shooting daggers with her eyes. ‘Yes, yes we did! How else were we going to make arrows that don’t hurt so Roy could learn?’

Oliver raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

‘Plus’, she continued. ‘It’s not like I’m the only one who uses it for extracurricular activities. I vividly remember you printing Thea’s birthday present.’

‘I’m not saying I don’t like it’, Oliver nodded. ‘Or that I wouldn’t have bought it myself. I’m just saying that we didn’t need it.’

‘Like we need the salmon ladder?’, she raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s impossible to go on in your mission without it, I know, but do we need an x-ray machine? Of course not.’

‘We really don’t’, he growled back. ‘All of us can tell when something’s broken and we don’t need all that radiation in our place of work.’

Felicity huffed. ‘Why do I even bother? You’ll never do anything that’ll help yourself.’

‘What is that supposed to me?’, Oliver was angry now, even though his dick didn’t get the memo just yet.

‘It means’, Felicity hissed, ‘that you don’t want to buy an x-ray machine because you know you’ll end up using it way too often, because I’ll get worried when you’ll get hurt, and I’ll force you to check.’

‘You don’t _force_ me to do anything, Felicity.’, he answered strongly. ‘Everything I do, I do it because I want it, either being something I need or something that would please you.’

That seemed to shock Felicity, because she closed her mouth with a snap.

After a couple of seconds of silence, both of them looking away into the crowd and fuming silently, she sighed and took half a step towards him, her shoulder brushing his, and staying there.

‘In the past month, we seem to argue every time we talk more than 5 minutes, have you noticed that?’, Felicity whispered.

Oliver did notice that. He’d never say it out loud, but it was his fault. Since that dark green dress that surely came from Hell, the way he’d feel towards Felicity, the want that came from his stomach and the attraction that blossomed in his chest, that made Oliver very angry.

He nodded, still fighting to not look at her.

‘You need to figure out why that is’, she said softly. ‘And you need to tell me, so I can fix it.’

‘What if you can’t fix it?’, he asked, his fists clenching in his pocket.

‘I can fix anything’, she said easily, making Oliver look at her. Felicity was smiling. ‘For you, I can fix absolutely anything. I just need to know what needs fixing.’

He didn’t look at her anymore. He turned his head back to the crowd, but Felicity didn’t move away. She still stood close to him for a couple of minutes, completely silent, drinking from her glass of wine every now and then.

When the wine was gon, she took a step right in front of Oliver, forcing him to look at her. She gently pulled on his tie, brining his face low enough so she could reach, kissing him softly on the cheek. She spoke while she ran her fingers on his skin, probably cleaning up the smear of lipstick she left behind. Her tone was whispered, but strong.

‘Whatever happened, whatever I did, I’m not loosing you again. On that island, or to yourself, I’m not loosing you. So figure it out and tell me.’

She was gone after that. And Oliver was left, once again, questioning why she was still by his side.

→→←←

It was good for a couple of days. They didn’t talk about it anymore, Felicity didn’t push, and Oliver managed to look at her as a coworker, as a friend, as his partner.

Until he couldn’t. He woke up one morning with mental images of Felicity in a wedding dress with their hands wearing matching gold rings and with Felicity with a baby bump.

When he got to the office, she was wearing one of his favorite dresses from her collection, the simple red one with a triangle cut on her chest. But when Oliver looked at Felicity now, he didn’t want her in his bed, he didn’t want her naked and panting, he didn’t want his hands over her naked body.

He just wanted Felicity, close to him, in his arms. He just wanted to hear her say _I love you_ , over and over again, and he wanted to say it back.

Oliver pushed through the day, managing somehow, but when they left QC, he snatched the car keys out of Diggle’s hands, pushed a 50$ bill back in them, and ordered him to get a cab.

He drove to the Foundry in silence, ignoring Felicity’s questions, gripping the wheel tightly and forcing his breathing to even out.

Once they got down to the Foundry, Oliver waited until Felicity put down her bag and took off her coat. She turned around slowly, leaning against the table and crossing her hands over her chest, watching him with a very worried look.

‘I’m mad’, Oliver said forcefully, once he was just a couple of steps in front of her. ‘I’m mad because you are beautiful, and you always have been, and I have always wanted you, but now I can’t control it anymore.’

Felicity’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. She didn’t say anything, though, and that infuriated Oliver beyond belief. Felicity was always talking and now, _now_ she chooses to stay silent?

So he made his way towards her, quickly, putting his hands around her waist and pushing his body to her.

‘Say something’, he growled, breathing heavily through his knows.

‘I…’, she tried, but didn’t manage to finish the sentence. They stood like that, with Felicity’s hands trapped between their bodies, his hands on her waist, Oliver panting and Felicity looking at him with eyes so wide and so confused, it made Oliver’s heart beat even faster.

She started squirming, and Oliver didn’t know if she was trying to get comfortable or trying to get away, all he knew and all he felt was the way her thigh brushed against his erection.

‘Oh’, she breathed out, becoming incredibly still.

‘Say. Something’, he tried, again, feeling desperate.

‘I can’t’, Felicity whispered, and for a second, Oliver felt his whole world implode, but then the feeling was gone, replaced with a completely different one, because Felicity whispered ‘I love you’, and kissed him.

Quickly, urgently, opening her mouth for him, breathing heavily against his lips. She took her hands from between them, and Oliver pushed forward, brining their bodies closer. He whimpered when her breasts connected with his chest, and as a response, Felicity bit on his lower lip and put her hands on his back, pulling him even more towards her.

She put her leg between his, forcefully, making him groan and move his body back, trying to get her to stop touching his crotch. But Felicity wouldn’t have it. She kissed him harder, then, and scratched her way down his back, not stopping her hands until they were on his ass. She squeezed it forcefully, and pulled him forward, his dick once again colliding with her thigh, making him groan.

And Felicity started moving her leg, slowly, up and down and to the sides, and Oliver’s vision blurred. He stopped kissing her, because he couldn’t focus on it anymore, moving one of his hands up her body, grabbing her pony tail and holding on tightly. Felicity moved her head to the crook of his neck, leaving gentle kisses in her way, but then sucking on his skin, biting and running her tongue over the irritated area.

Then, she stopped. Completely. Her whole body froze and when he realized, Oliver froze too.

‘We’re not’, Felicity whispered throatily, ‘having sex in the Foundry. Not the first time anyway.’

She pushed him back, and Oliver went along, he took a step back and just looked at her. Felicity’s lipstick was smeared and her lips were swollen, her hair was slightly fuzzy and she was breathing heavily, through her mouth. So was he.

Oliver ran a finger across his lips, and when he looked at it, there were purple traces on it. He probably looked as wrecked as Felicity did.

‘Text Digg’, she whispered. ‘And Roy. The Arrow’s taking a night off, trying out my sheets. I’ll wait for you by the car.’

Felicity turned around quickly, grabbing her things and rushing up the stairs. Oliver stood there, looking at her long legs, thinking about how they’re going to feel around his waist. For all the nights to come.

And just like that, Oliver wasn’t angry anymore, he felt all his anger leave his body with the ghost feeling of Felicity’s hands on his back.

Now, Oliver was excited.


	31. Felicity and Oliver vs. AJ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _how about some more felicity college stories:P maybe she even dated a teacher._
> 
> Sorry, I kind of took your prompt and I briefly incorporated in a story I just needed to write, of **Felicity and Oliver babysitting AJ together**. Sorry?

Felicity got to the office about half an hour ago, and she was  going over Oliver’s schedule for the day, when her phone rang.

‘Good morning, John’, she answered easily, small smile on her lips. She wasn’t met with Diggle’s usual joyfulness.

‘I need help’, he said, urgently. ‘Carly and AJ were in a car accident on their way to school.’

‘Oh my god, are they okay?’, Felicity exclaimed, already rushing to Oliver’s office and putting her phone on speaker.

‘Yeah’, John sighed. ‘AJ’s fine, just some bruises from the seat belt, but Carly has a few broken bones, because the car hit them on the driver’s side and she has a pretty nasty concussion.’

‘What can we do?’, Felicity said strongly, after sharing a quick look with Oliver.

‘They want to keep her in the hospital, all day and over night, and I’m going to stay with her, but we don’t want AJ to stay there, and the babysitter’s out of town.’

‘Okay’, she said, easily, just as Oliver said ‘Bring him here.’

‘He can sleep at my place tonight’, Felicity added. ‘Oliver has a few meetings that we can’t dodge today, but I can leave after 1 or so. Do you have a set of his clothes at your apartment? Or a pajama at least? I can run and get them while-‘

‘I’ve got them already’, Diggle interrupted.

‘He couldn’t find any crayons’, AJ pouting voice came through, and Felicity had to stifle a laugh.

‘You’re in luck, then’, Felicity said brightly, ‘because I cannot live without crayons. I got a 24 set of Crayola hidden in my desk. Is that okay?’

‘Yeah’, AJ sighed. ‘I guess.’

‘Good’, she grinned. ‘We’ll be here, waiting.’

‘Be there in 10’, John said, and hung up.

Oliver was looking at her with a concerned frown on his face, so Felicity smiled at him and squeezed his arm.

‘It’s gonna be okay. We can stay the whole day at work, if you want, but you really don’t have anything to do after 1, you don’t need me here.’

‘It’s not that’, Oliver shook his head. ‘He’s going to get bored. And he must be tired and worried for Carly. You should go home, take him with you.’

‘I need to be here for the noon meeting with the head of IT’, Felicity smiled. ‘He specifically requested it, cause I’m better at translating tech talk for you.’

Oliver sighed.

‘It’s gonna be fine. I’ll keep him busy with crayons and Candy Crush and I may or may not have a secret stash of chocolate and candy bars that I am willing to share.’, she grinned. ‘I’ll get him some pizza for lunch and by the time we’ll get to my place, he’ll be ready for a nap.’

‘I’m not convinced.’, Oliver pouted. ‘Why do you even have crayons?’

‘Eh’, Felicity shrugged. ‘It’s easier to remember stuff with colors. Learned that in college and it stuck.’

He was still frowning, and Felicity smiled broadly, because his concern for AJ was touching.

‘It’s better than nothing. For AJ. But this means I won’t be in the Foundry tonight. Neither will Digg.’

‘The Arrow can get a night off’, Oliver nodded, surprising her.

‘I’m glad I didn’t have to fight you for it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have hot chocolate to make.’

⌠⃝⌡

When she came back from the kitchen, holding a tray with cookies, three cups of hot chocolate and a travel mug, Diggle and AJ were already by Felicity’s desk, talking to Oliver. Well, John was talking, AJ was leaning onto his side, holding his hand, looking down and, by the way his shoulders were shaking every now and then, he was probably crying.

It broke Felicity’s heart, so she quickly put the tray down on her desk, and crouched down so that she could be at eye-level with him. Oliver and Diggle paused their conversation, looking down at her with similar frowns on their faces. She ignored them.

‘Hey there’, Felicity said, reaching out to grab AJ’s free hand. He looked up at her, wearily, but she just smiled at him. ‘My name is Felicity and you’re not going to get rid of me till tomorrow. But that’s a good thing, because I have crayons, excellent taste in cartoons and loads of hot chocolate. Or’, she frowned, ‘are you more of a coffee type of guy?’

‘I’m eight’, AJ frowned, ‘I don’t drink coffee’.

‘Good’, Felicity frowned, fighting back a smile. ‘You should wait a couple of years for that.’

‘I’m not telling you what do to do here’, she squeezed his hand a bit tighter, ‘but I think you should let go of John now, so he can get to your mom faster. My chair’s pretty comfy.’, she pointed at it. ‘I made you some hot chocolate, paper and crayons are already waiting for you and I have Candy Crush on my tablet, you can play anytime you’d like.’

AJ was silent for a few seconds, but then he nodded and let go of her hand. ‘Okay.’

He then turned around to face John, bringing his hands around his waist and hugging him tightly. Diggle smiled down at the boy, petting his hair and shaking his head softly.

‘Listen to Felicity, buddy, okay? She’s doing us a favor, so be nice to her.’

‘Take care of mommy’.

With that, AJ headed for the desk, pushing himself up on Felicity’s chair and opening up the crayon box. Felicity wordlessly handed him the Garfield mug filled with hot chocolate, and he wordlessly took it, making her smile.

When she turned around back to the men, Diggle put a hand around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly.

‘I owe you one.’, he said after he kissed the top of her head.

‘You really don’t’, she shook her head. ‘AJ and I are gonna have fun.’

Oliver coughed. ‘I’ll be there too’, he told Diggle. ‘They need a bodyguard.’

‘Do not’, Felicity said forcefully, making Oliver shoot her a pointed look.

‘Whatever!’, she shrugged. ‘You’re just jealous of all the fun we’ll have, you don’t wanna be left out.’

‘That’s exactly it’, Oliver said seriously. Then, he turned to Diggle. ‘Go, everything’s going to be fine. Call if you need anything.’

‘We’ll update you during the day’, Felicity added. ‘So that Carly doesn’t worry.’

Diggle smiled. ‘He’s allergic to seafood and still sleeps with a night light on.’

Felicity nodded and made her way back towards the tray, picking up the travel mug and handling it to him.

‘Hot chocolate?’

‘Yup’, she smiled. ‘But I mixed in some coffee.’

‘Still no marshmallows?’, Digg grinned, making her giggle.

‘Still out of marshmallows’, she nodded, absently handling Oliver a cup.

‘What did I do to deserve coffee?’, he asked, the second John left.

‘It’s not coffee’, Felicity smiled. ‘It’s hot chocolate. And you’re going to need it, because your first meeting starts in 10 minutes, and while it’s necessary, it’s also going to be very boring.’

Oliver sighed and made his way back to his office.

⌠⃝⌡

AJ was an amazing kid, Felicity figured out pretty quickly. He was smart and he liked to know a lot of things, because he kept asking Felicity about anything that caught his attention or passed through his mind.

_Who invented high heels? What makes crayons sticky? Why does the keyboard have the letters put like that? How many tentacles does an octopus have?_

And so on and so forth. It was entertaining, for Felicity, to answer his questions. She knew the answers to some of them, and for the ones Felicity didn’t know the answers to, she googled it. So by the time noon came around, Felicity and AJ have somewhat bonded, over trivia and crayons. They were sitting next to each other behind her desk, and AJ was always careful not to get into her space too much as she worked.

He asked to play Candy Crush, so Felicity gave him her tablet. But he got bored quickly enough, going back to his drawing. Felicity thought that was weird for an 8 year old kid living in this day and age, so she asked him about it.

‘Mom always says I play too much on the computer’, AJ answered, not raising his eyes from the paper he was drawing on. ‘She’s right. And I love drawing too, so it’s still fun. But also good for my eyes.’

Felicity hummed and gently patted his hair. ‘You’re a smart kid, AJ. Your mom must be very proud of you. I know John is.’

‘How do you know Uncle John?’, he asked, batting her hand away, but turning his head to look at her.

‘Through Oliver, actually. It’s a long story, but they asked me to help them with something about a year ago. We’ve been friends every since.’

‘All three of you?’, AJ frowned.

‘Yup’.

The boy nodded. ‘That’s nice. Mom always says she’s glad that Uncle John has friends to take care of him.’

That made Felicity smile. ‘Yeah, well, he takes care of us most of the times. It’s only fair we take care of him when he needs it.’

‘Even if that means taking care of me, not him.’

Felicity couldn’t help it, she giggled and bent down to kiss the top of his head. He squirmed away from her, but she kept giggling.

‘Taking care of your Uncle John is instinct, by now, and love. Taking care of you is instinctual, instant love because you’re a cutie pie, also fun to hang around with. A lot of fun.’

AJ narrowed his eyes. ‘I didn’t understand every word you said, but I understand what you said.’

Felicity laughed.

⌠⃝⌡

Oliver didn’t leave his office at all that morning, so when noon came around, Felicity saw that he was tired and bored, so very bored that it already evolved into frustration.

She decided to make coffee then, three cups, for her, Oliver and the head of IT. She also brought AJ an orange juice and some more cookies, and when Felicity got back to her desk, Oliver was sitting in her seat, next to AJ, looking over all the things the boy had drawn so far.

‘Just because I got you cookies, that doesn’t mean you have to eat them’, she told him sternly. ‘Oliver and I have this meeting, it shouldn’t be too long, an hour at the most. And then, Oliver’s going to take us out to lunch. Right?’, she raised an eyebrow at the older man.

‘Of course.’, he nodded seriously, placing a hand on AJ’s back. ‘What do you want to eat?’

‘Anything you want’, Aj answered quickly, making Oliver frown.

Felicity crouched down on the other side of the desk so that AJ could see her, and she tapped a pale yellow painted finger nail on the paper he was busy drawing.

‘While Oliver and I both appreciate how polite you are, and we’ll make sure to tell your uncle that’, she winked, ‘please tell us what you want to eat, because you’re in our hands today and that means we get to spoil you.’

‘Why?’, he frowned.

Felicity paused, thinking of an answer, but Oliver surprised her by quickly speaking with a smile on his face.

‘Because neither of us have kids, so we don’t have who to spoil.’

AJ shook his head. ‘That doesn’t sound like the truth, but I want pizza.’

‘Great’, Felicity laughed, just as she saw the head of IT getting out of the elevators. Oliver ruffled AJ’s hair one more time and headed to greet him, but Felicity stayed back a while longer. She put a hand over AJ’s to get his attention, and smiled at him.

‘Are you going to be okay till we finish the meeting?’

‘Yup’, Aj answered immediately. ‘I’ll be good.’

Felicity believed him, so she grabbed her tablet and straightened her back, heading over to Oliver and the other man, who were already waiting for her by the conference room door.

⌠⃝⌡

‘You really don’t have to spend the day with us’, Felicity told Oliver as soon as it was just the two of them in his office, AJ still drawing at her desk.

‘I promised him lunch’.

‘Yeah, okay’, Felicity laughed, ‘but you don’t have to stay after that. He’s probably gonna nap when we get home and after, I don’t know, we’ll probably watch tv or play Mario Cart.’

Oliver smiled at that, just a subtle uptick of his lips. ‘I also promised Digg, so unless you tell me you don’t want me there’, he stood up from his chair, ‘then I’m coming.’

Felicity sighed, but there was a smile on her lips that she couldn’t really control. She didn’t say anything, just went to her desk and helped AJ gather his things.

⌠⃝⌡

When they got to the pizza place, everybody working there seemed to have small heart attacks the moment Oliver came in. Felicity understood it, because this was a small place, close to her apartment, that made deliveries in a 5 block radius and had regular costumers, like Felicity. She quickly made her way through the diner, settling in one of the booths in the back, that was slightly more secured than the others, giving them a little bit of privacy.

Felcity wordlessly sat down with her back to the door, just like she always did, so that Oliver could keep an eye on the exit. She was, however, surprised, when AJ wanted to sit next to Oliver. The older man still stood on the outside of the couch, easy access, Felicity’s mind supplied, but AJ didn’t seem to mind.

They ordered pizza and garlic bread, the adults drinking coffee and AJ having warm milk, to everyone’s confusion.

AJ became more talkative, probably because he was outside of an office building, Felicity thought. He talked at QC too, but he didn’t look at her, and he was always whispering. Here, though, he  was grinning broadly at every joke Felicity made, asking questions while looking straight at her, judging her for the choice of pineapple toping on her pizza, and even talking directly to Oliver. He asked him about more manly things, about cars and basketball, and Felicity smiled when she saw haw hard Oliver was trying to properly answer his questions.

Once they were finished with their pizza, Oliver insisted on ordering desert too, much to AJ’s pleasure, who hugged him briefly and demanded waffles. Oliver looked over at Felicity, then, smiling wide and soft, and so caring and carefree. It made her heart skip a beat, because this wasn’t a look she got to see often on him.

So she smiled back, ordered chocolate pancakes and started thinking of which of her boardgames were suited for an 8 year old.

⌠⃝⌡

‘Felicity, how come you don’t have kids?’, AJ asked her while they were waiting for the check. She froze for a second, and when she looked up, both of the men were watching her with curious interest.

‘I haven’t found someone to be their daddy yet.’, she smiled at the boy.

‘Then how come you’re so good with kids?’

‘Am I? Good with kids?’, she raised her eyebrows.

‘D’uh’, AJ said quickly, earning a snort from Oliver. ‘You’re good at taking care of me. You’re not half as annoying as the sitters I’ve had.’

Felicity grinned at that. ‘Well, thank you! Just for that, I’ll let you choose what movie we’re gonna watch tonight.’

‘You haven’t answered my question’, AJ narrowed his eyes, making Oliver snort again.

‘I’ve babysat before’, Felicity shook her head. ‘In highschool, every other weekend I’d babysit babies. Like, younger than you, a lot younger than you, babies in diapers. And, most of college, I babysat one of my teacher’s kid, he was about your age.’

‘Was that legal?’, Oliver leaned forward, an amused glint in his eyes.

Felicity bit her lip. ‘Well, I was the TA for his course. Since year one, so that was barely legal, the dean made an exception for us.’

‘You’re hiding something’, Oliver said, surprised but amused.

She sighed, and when she looked up at him, she knew she was blushing furiously. ‘The fact that I babysat his kid was probably the most legal thing we ever did.’

Oliver faltered at that. He straightened his back and watched her with a scrutinizing look, making her squirm and blush even harder. Thankfully, the waiter brought the check then, and Felicity took AJ to wash up while Oliver paid the pill. 

⌠⃝⌡

By the time they got to Felicity’s apartment, AJ was dragging his feet and yawning intensively. So she took him straight to her guest room, where she had a big lamp on the nightstand, she thought that would be good once night came. Felicity asked if he needed help getting into his pajamas, but he declined. She still made sure to be in the room, though, puttering around with her back towards him.

Once he was done, he shyly requested a bed time story, telling her that Uncle John packed his favorite book. Felicity took it out of the bag, and saw that it was a collection of short stories, about a puppy’s adventures in the big city. She smiled and turned to the door, intent on yelling for Oliver. But he was already there, leaning against the doorjamb, smiling softly.

‘I’m not a very good story teller’, she smiled at AJ. ‘How about I just leave that to Oliver?’

The boy nodded, making room for Oliver to sit next to him on the bed. Felicity handed Oliver the book with a big smile on her face, but he was frowning at her, for some reason. She winked, hoping to ease him out of it, and touched his hand when he reached for the book.

Oliver spoke softly, when he read to AJ. After a couple of sentences, his voice was dropped very low, barely above a whisper. His muscles were tense, and he wasn’t looking anywhere else except the book. But AJ seemed to be enjoying it, because even though his eyes were closed, there was a small smile on his lips. He was cocooned under the blankets, and you could barely see his head, just a mop of chaotic curls, but Felicity still took a picture of the scene in front of her, making sure to include Oliver in it, and sent it to Digg.

His response was quick and typical: _Carly says ‘awwwwwwh’_.

⌠⃝⌡

When AJ finally fell asleep, Felicity went to her bedroom to change into some comfortable clothes, opting for a pair of yoga pants and a loose sweater. When she came back, Oliver was in the living room, on the couch, shoeless feet crossed on the coffee table, watching an old black and white film on tv.

‘Are you sure you want to hang out?’, Felicity asked him.

‘Positive’, he replied quickly, not taking his eyes off the tv.

‘Spend the night?’, she said around a smile, and that made him turn to her, sharply, a small frown on his face.

‘I was planning to’, he finally said. ‘If that’s okay with you.’

She nodded and went back to her bedroom, grabbing a pair of sweats one of her exes left behind and an MIT t-shirt that would fit him. Oliver seemed surprised when she handed them, telling him there’s spare toothbrushes in the cabinets under the sink, but he recovered quickly and thanked her.

They spent the next hour and a half on the couch, Felicity cuddling under her fluffy blanket, Oliver with his legs crossed on the coffee table. They watched the movie that was playing on the tv, and Oliver seemed oddly tense, but half an hour in he caved in.

‘I can’t take it anymore’, he said, turning around on the couch and facing a shocked Felicity. ‘I have to know, please, what kind of illegal activities did you and your professor do?’

Felicity started laughing after a few more seconds of shock, covering her head with the blanket. Oliver put a hand on her shoulder, over the blanket and shook her gently, an amused tone in his voice.

‘Tell me, or I’m going to think of some very bad things.’

‘Like what?’, she peeked an eye over the blanket.

‘Did you help him hide a body?’, Oliver asked in a completely straight voice. ‘Did you help him rob a bank?’

‘Worse than that, actually’, Felicity shrugged, finally throwing her blanket away. ‘Well, not worse, it was good, it felt good, but uh, it was frowned upon.’

She blushed again. Oliver was frowning, but after he looked at how she was fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt, his eyes grew wide and there was a spark in it.

‘Felicity!’, he said, slightly shocked. ‘Did you sleep with your professor?’

‘Yes’, she raised an eyebrow. ‘Don’t judge like you’ve never done it.’

Oliver tilted his head. ‘Yeah, well, it was expected of me. You don’t seem like the type.’

‘I wasn’t, not really.’, she laughed. ‘But come on, first time I ever hacked into something, I was 15 and needed to make my attendance record a bit more complete. I was predisposed to slightly illegal activities, always.’

‘Huh’, Oliver breathed out. ‘I never thought of it like that.’

She shrugged. ‘Most people who grow up in Vegas are slightly evil. Add a full college experience, and well, it gets slightly difficult to not travel into villain territory.’

Oliver smiled. ‘I know you could be … a villain, Felicity. I never doubted that. But, what I’m curious is...’, he leaned forward a bit and his voice dropped, ‘how much of a villain were you before we met?’

Felicity smirked and turned to face him, crossing her legs in front of her.

‘Highschool was mild, considering the big picture.’, she smiled. ‘I hacked into the school records twice, to delete some days I skipped because I had to help mom at something, but she forgot to call the school to let them know.’

Oliver opened his mouth to say something, he probably wanted to ask about her mother, but this wasn’t the time for that, Felicity thought, so she quickly started talking again.

‘And I had a fake ID, of course, it was Vegas. I always went only to one casino, though, it was smaller and the security was lacking. So they didn’t figure out I counted cards for a couple of years.’

Oliver was shaking his head, watching her with an amused expression on his face.

‘College, though’, she shook her head. ‘Illegal gambling in the dorms, I accidentally robbed a liquor store that one time, I not so accidentally robbed a candy store, twice.’, she grinned. ‘Casual hacking into every database I could think of, just trying out the new things I learned and trying to not forget the ones I already knew.’

‘And sleeping with one of your professors.’, Oliver added with a raised eyebrow.

‘Yeah, and that’, Felicity blushed once again. ‘I was often at his apartment, anyway, because I was his TA. And after a few weeks, he asked me to babysit his kid sometimes, because he saw that we got along well. A few weeks after that, well… it happened. And it kept going until I finished college and moved to Starling.’

She frowned. ‘I stopped babysitting the kid, though, after he walked in on us. That was very awkward.’

Oliver started laughing. Felicity smiled too, she really couldn’t’ help it.

‘You keep surprising me’, he said once he caught his breath. ‘You’re pretty impressive, you know that?’

‘Remarkable’, Felicity smirked, ignoring the lump she got in her throat every time Oliver complimented her.

‘Remarkable’, he agreed, putting a hand on her knee and squeezing gently.

They just smiled at each other for a couple of seconds, and when he finally took his hand away, he shook his head.

‘How do you accidentally rob a liquor store?’

Felicity laughed. ‘You have stupid friends who stash booze in your backpack without you noticing.’

Whatever Oliver was going to say was interrupted by AJ making his way in the living room, rubbing at his eyes and yawning.

‘Hey buddy’, Felicity smiled. ‘Sleep well?’

He nodded and got on the couch, putting his head in Felicity’s lap and his feet in Oliver, stunning them both into silence. Oliver was the first who recovered, and grabbed Felicity’s phone, taking a picture of her and AJ, sending it to Digg.

‘How are you with pasta?’, Felicity asked the boy, absently running her fingers through his hair.

‘I can’t make it’, he mumbled, making her snort.

‘Good thing I can, then. I was thinking of making some for dinner. With a cheese sauce and some fried bacon and spices. How does that sound?’

He lifted his head to frown at her. ‘Pasta with bacon?’

Felicity nodded. ‘It’s really good, promise.’

‘Okay’, Aj sighed, sitting up on the couch. ‘What can I do till then?’

‘Well what do you wanna do?’, Felicity smiled. ‘You can watch tv, play on my tablet if you want. You can draw some more, if you want. I have cards, if you want to teach Oliver to play a game.’

AJ turned to Oliver, then, with big hopeful eyes.

‘I can play Go Fish’, he smiled.

The boy nodded and turned towards Felicity. ‘I should change back to street clothes. It’s not polite to stay in pajamas.’

‘You’re right’, Felicity nodded, ‘it’s not. But me and Oliver are way too lazy to change back to street clothes, so why don’t we agree that today is just one of those days, when pajamas in the house is polite and highly needed?’

⌠⃝⌡

Felicity’s living room was designed with an open space, so it continued with the kitchen, the only separation between the two being the bar. So, while she cooked, it was easy for her to look over at Oliver at AJ, where they were playing cards on the floor. They were both enjoying themselves, it seemed, Oliver was smiling constantly and it made Felicity’s heart skip a few beats every time she’d lift her eyes and saw him.

They were both very competitive, so they were very invested in their game of Go Fish, which was absolutely hilarious for Felicity to watch.

She sent another picture to John, and was surprised when he called her back.

‘Is everything okay?’, is what she answered with.

‘Hello, Felicity’, Lyla’s amused voice came through. ‘Everything’s fine. I just stopped by the hospital to bring John some food. Carly's getting a cast, he’s with her but he left his phone behind. Just thought I’d check how you three are doing.’

‘We’re fine’, she smiled. ‘I’m cooking, and the boys are at their throats in a surprisingly violent game of Go Fish.’

Lyla laughed. ‘Who’s winning?’

‘AJ, much to Oliver’s annoyance.’

‘Oh, I know the feeling, AJs very good at that game.’

‘He’s a good kid’, Felicity smiled.

‘Yeah he is’, Lyla replied, softly. ‘Well, I just wanted to make sure you’re allright. I’ll leave you to your cooking.’

‘Do you want to come over for dinner?’, Felicity asked in a rush. ‘Honestly, I didn’t know you already knew AJ or I would’ve invited you sooner.’

There was a pause. ‘You don’t have to do that, Felicity.’

‘I know. I’m still doing it.’, she grinned. ’Really, if you want to, please come. We’ll be eating in two hours, but feel free to come whenever. If you don’t have anything else to do, that is, like work.’

‘No work. I don’t have to be in until 10 tonight.’, Lyla assured quickly.

‘Good. I’m sure you already know where I live’, Felicity grinned. ‘But I have to warn you, today has been declared a day of laziness and pajamas so don’t expect us to put on regular clothes.’

‘What?’, Lyla laughed, ‘No green leather pants?’

‘Definitely no green leather pants’, Felicity laughed back, making Oliver look at her with a raised eyebrow.

‘I’ll see you soon, then’, Lyla said. ‘Let me get the desert. Cupcakes? No, wait, you’re allergic.’

Felicity frowned. ‘Did Digg tell you that, or does it say on the file I’m sure your boss keeps on me?’

‘Do you really want to know?’, Lyla asked, but Felicity could tell she was smiling.

‘How about some icecream?’, Felicity asked, hopefully.

‘Perfect, I’ll see you soon.’

After Lyla hung up, Felicity put the food away and made her way to the living room. She sat down on the couch and started flipping through channels.

‘Lyla’s coming over for dinner’, she smiled at AJ who grinned back and let out an excited _yaaay._

Oliver raised an eyebrow. Felicity smiled at him, innocently, and shrugged.

‘We don’t really get to spend so much time with her. It’s usually just work. I thought it would be nice to get to know _her_ better, not just her skill set.’

‘Mom says Lyla is badass!’, AJ exclaimed. ‘I’m sorry, I know that’s a bad word, but that’s what mom always says.’

‘She is’, Oliver laughed. ‘That’s why she gets along so well with John.’

AJ giggled and asked him if he has any 3s. Oliver pouted and handed them over. Felicity shook her head and went back to the tv.

⌠⃝⌡

When Lyla came over, the table was already set and Oliver was helping AJ wash his hands. She was wearing a pair of sweats and a hoodie, making Felicity laugh.

AJ hugged her tightly when he saw her, and quickly started talking about everything he did today, about how Oliver and Felicity have boring jobs, about how good the pizza was, how big Felicity’s bed is and about how Oliver’s a bad looser. Lyla listened to all the rant, smiling and nodding along, absently petting the boy’s hair.

Everybody seemed to like doing that, Felicity noted, even her. Probably because of the wild curls and because of how adorable AJ was. He didn’t seem to mind it, though.

Dinner went without a hitch, even if things were a little bit awkward at the beginning, especially between Lyla and Oliver. But it disappeared the moment AJ told Lyla that she should see the room he’s staying in, because it looks just like her bedroom, only better.

Oliver snorted, and Felicity blushed, looking a bit wide-eyed at Lyla. Who just narrowed her eyes and started talking about interior design. At one point in the conversation, she said ‘At least it’s not metal everything.’

‘Hey, it’s practical’, Oliver pointed out. ‘In some situations.’

‘As practical as a glass case?’, Lyla raised an eyebrow, tone dripping sarcasm.

Oliver grinned. ‘That’s all on Felicity. She redecorated.’

Lyla turned to her and Felicity blushed. ‘ _Someone_ left town after certain events, and while that was understandable’, she spared a glance towards Oliver, ‘it still left me bored and full of energy, with a million dollars in my bank account and a pile of dirt and broken equipment. It couldn’t be helped.’

‘I’m not judging’, Lyla laughed. ‘It’s cool, very cool, I’ll admit that. It just didn’t seem like his type of thing to do.’

‘It wasn’t’, Felicity nodded. ‘It was my type of thing to do. John laughed for 10 minutes when he saw it.’

‘Of course he did’, Oliver rolled his eyes.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’, AJ pouted, startling everyone.

‘Grown-up stuff’, Felicity assured him. ‘Very boring, you wouldn’t like.’

‘Okay’, the boy sighed. ‘Let me now when you’re getting back to fun conversations.’

‘How about after dinner?’, Lyla smiled. ‘I got a boardgame with me, if Felicity and Oliver are up for that.’

AJ grinned and turned towards Felicity. ‘Please?’. He then turned towards Oliver, putting a hand on his arm. ‘Pretty please?’

‘Sure’, he agreed easily. ‘I have to get revenge after Go Fish.’

‘Oh boy’, Felicity sighed, sharing a look with Lyla. ‘It’s gonna be a long night.’

⌠⃝⌡

It wasn’t a long night, because they all had fun playing the game. They sat on the floor of Felicity’s living room, in a circle around the board, and had a lot of fun. They laughed, they bickered, at one point they had to pause the game because Oliver was too busy tickling AJ because he was beating them all. Felicity spent the evening next to Oliver, letting her head rest on his shoulder more often than not, and talking a lot with Lyla. Nothing related to their work, but normal things, like movies, clothes and cooking, much to Oliver’s amusement, who made a comment at one point, ‘Sometimes I forget that you’re both actual real women.’

Felicity glared, but Lyla raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? You spent most of your days and nights near Felicity’s very short skirts and high heels, and you _forget_?’

‘Her shirt are not _that_ short’, Oliver huffed quickly, and Felicity lost it, she ended up on the floor in fetus position, laughing her ass off.

⌠⃝⌡

After Lyla left, Felicity and Oliver put AJ to bed, but it was Felicity who read to him this time. Oliver was still in the room, sitting on a chair with his hands in the pockets of the sweatpants he was wearing, smiling softly at her and shaking his head at the different funny voices she made.

They washed the dishes together after that, and Felicity felt butterflies in her stomach at doing something so domestic with Oliver. She was washing the dishes and he was drying them, all the while talking about the things they had to do tomorrow at the office.

Felicity was very tired, so she decided to go to bed, considering she didn't get a night off often. She offered him her bedroom, but Oliver insisted on taking the couch. So Felicity helped him make the bed, unfolding it and putting the bedding on. Oliver gave her a kiss on the cheek, but he didn’t say ‘goodnight’, he told her ‘sweet dreams’, and that made Felicity fall asleep with the Oliver induced butterflies in her stomach. She knew them well.

⌠⃝⌡

Felicity woke up to the sound of AJ screaming, so she quickly ran to his room. Oliver got there first, and quickly opened the door, shielding her from whatever was waiting for them on the other side.

There was no threat, and Oliver relaxed quickly, while Felicity pushed him to the side and ran to the bed, sitting on it and getting AJ into her arms. He wasn’t screaming anymore, but he was still crying, so Felicity shushed him softly and ran her hands down his back.

‘It was just a nightmare, okay, buddy? Everything’s okay, you’re at my apartment, with Oliver, and John is with your mom at the hospital.’

AJ calmed down after a few minutes, so Felicity pushed him away a bit and smiled down at him. Felicity didn’t hear Oliver moving around, but he handed her a wet washcloth then, which she used to clean up AJs face.

‘Do you want to go back to sleep?’, she asked him softly. ‘Or do you want us to watch some cartoons with you?’

‘I can’t sleep alone’, Aj whispered, not looking at her. She shared a quick look with Oliver, but smiled at the boy.

‘You want me to sleep with you?’, Felicity asked softly. ‘I can't protect you from the nightmares, but I love cuddles.’

‘Okay’, AJ mumbled pitifully, but got under the covers. Felicity followed him, throwing Oliver a pointed look.

‘I’m sure Oliver will wake us up in the morning, so we can eat breakfast before Uncle John comes to pick you up. And to bring him a suit for work.’

Oliver nodded and bid them both goodnight, not closing the door behind him completely. Felicity didn’t comment on it, she just put her hands around AJ and petted his hair until his breathing even out, and she let herself fall asleep quickly after.

⌠⃝⌡

She woke up in the morning because she heard Diggle’s desperate shouts for her name. By the time he opened the door, she was already sitting up in bed. AJ didn’t even stir, but Oliver sat up as well. Oliver, who was on AJ’s other side, hand still thrown over the boy's waist, toughing her thigh. Judging by the state of his confusion, he had also been asleep.

‘You weren’t here last night’, Felicity frowned.

Oliver growled, low in his throat, but it was a normal occurrence in the mornings. ‘You were both having nightmares and not waking up. I had to do something.’

That stunned Felicity into silence.

‘You weren’t answering your phones’, Diggle glared, and they both turned to him. ‘Very bad management, not bringing them in here. I was just about to open an ARGUS manhunt.’

‘Oops?’, Felicity did her best to smile innocently, but Diggle didn’t seem to buy it, because he shook his head. He then picked up a half asleep AJ up and carried him to the bathroom.

Felicity and Oliver got out of bed in silence, she headed for her bedroom to get dressed and he mumbles something about making coffee, so the very awkward position they were in was avoided.

When Diggle and AJ left, the boy hugged Oliver and kissed Felicity’s cheek, thanking them for taking care of him and telling them that he had fun.

‘Really?’, Diggle raised an eyebrow. ‘So you wouldn’t mind them babysitting you again?’

‘Of course not’, AJ rolled his eyes. Then he whispered to Digg, even if they all could still hear him, ‘Maybe if they spend more time with me, I’ll convince them to have a baby.’

Felicity stopped breathing, and Oliver seemed to freeze too, while Diggle started laughing.

‘That’s exactly what Lyla told me yesterday.’

Felicity made some noise, drawing attention towards her, and she was blushing, she knew as much, but she couldn’t really say anything.

Diggle shook his head and chuckled softly. ‘I’ll pick you two up in an hour, you still have work to go too.’

‘Please be dressed when I get here’, he said, with a pointed look towards Oliver, who just closed the door in his face.

Oliver turned towards her, then, and smiled sheepishly. ‘Let’s ignore that happened?’

‘As always.’, she managed to say before she ran to her bedroom.

They weren’t exactly dressed when Diggle came to pick them up, but that was only because Oliver tried to make Felicity some hot chocolate, and Felicity tried to help, but they ended up fighting, over something, it’s a bit of a blur. But the conclusion was that a pot of warm milk ended up on Felicity’s dress, and Oliver was laughing too hard to notice where he was stepping, so he slipped on the milk that ended up on the floor, ending on his ass in the middle of the kitchen.


	32. You'll always come for me. That's important.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Felicity gets kidnapped by someone who is torturing her to get the information about Arrow but she doesn't give up for awhile but just as she thinks she won't be able to handle any more torture and thinks about giving up and confessing everything, Oliver comes and saves her ;)_

6 hours. She’s been here for 6 hours.

She knows this, because the clock in the clock tower in Starling rings once every hour. And she heard it 6 times. She’s somewhere near the clock tower, clearly, but she doesn’t have any way of communicating with Oliver.

She’s tied up, with chains and hooks. Her feet are rooted to the floor and her hands are tied to the ceiling. There’s blood trailing on her arms, from where the cuffs are digging into her wrist, because she couldn’t hold herself up on her feet anymore.

She barely felt the cuts. She barely felt anything anymore.

She had no idea who he was. It’s just one guy, tall and dressed in blue jeans. He’s bald and he has tattoos on his arms. She calls him 'tattoo guy' in her head. He kidnapped her as she was getting out of the car in front of her house. It was late at night and the guy had a syringe in her neck before she even got to scream.

But Oliver was coming for her. Because she didn’t text him when she got home. She always did that. Oliver was coming for her.

The guy wanted to know the Arrow’s real identity. She didn’t break. She wasn’t going to let him know, she wasn’t going to betray Oliver like that. She couldn’t. Nothing was more important than this secret. She wasn’t going to break, for Oliver, only for Oliver. She kept telling herself that in her head. It helped.

She didn’t say a word. She didn’t scream when he tied her to the floor and ceiling. She didn’t scream when he cut her clothes off, leaving her only in her bra and panties.

She didn’t say anything when he put a video camera on a tripod, right in front of her. And started filming.

She didn’t scream when he started slapping her. She didn’t cry when he grabbed her so hard that she saw stars, or when he punched her stomach or chest. She didn’t cry when the bruises appeared.

She didn’t scream when he pulled out a pocket knife and started cutting small slashes on her abdomen. She didn’t cry when he started grinding against her back. And she didn’t scream when he shoved his hand in the front of her panties.

She didn’t say a word. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, she cried and cried and cried, but she didn’t make a sound.

No matter how many times he hit her, no matter how many times he’d cut her, no matter how many times he’d violate her, Felicity didn’t say a word.

She felt sick. She wanted to throw up, but she didn’t even remember if she had lunch that day. Her whole body ached, from the position it was forced in, from the bruises and the cuts. She was cold, freezing, and the blood falling down her arms was hot, so hot, it made her skin tingle.

But Oliver was coming for her. It wasn’t going to take much longer. She had a tracker in her clothes, she hoped it was still working. Oliver was coming for her. With Digg, and Roy. They were coming, her boys were going to save her.

Tattoo guy walked away from Felicity, and she froze. He went to the back of the warehouse they were in, and came back dragging an old surgical table after him. It had a black duffle bag on it.

He grinned at her, and placed the table in front of her, to the left. Then, he opened the bag and pulled out a couple of branding irons and a gas lamp.

‘No’, she whispered.

He grinned and turned on the lamp, picking up one of the irons and heating it up.

She couldn’t do this. She knew she couldn’t do this, she couldn’t endure that much amount of pain. She was going to break and she was going to betray Oliver.

She was going to blow his cover, and she knew, she knew tattoo guy was going to kill her after. He’ll burn her and torture her as long as it will take for her to talk, and she’ll scream, and yell, and beg. And after she’ll tell him the truth, he’ll kill her.

He had a big hunting knife on his belt. She knew its purpose.

She was going to die. And she will die knowing she betrayed Oliver.

And that, that was what made her scream.

The guy laughed, told her that he hasn’t even touched her yet. He took the branding iron out of the fire and advanced on her.

He didn’t get to touch her skin, because the door to the warehouse opened with a bang. She just saw a blur of dark green, but that was enough to make her stop screaming and close her mouth.

She blinked a couple of times, and finally saw Oliver. With his hood on, with an arrow trained on the guy. He wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at her.

For a couple of seconds, Oliver looked only at Felicity.

Tattoo guy moved. He lifted his hand, to reach for the hunting knife. Felicity thanked the heavens that he didn’t have a gun. Oliver was safe, because an arrow was faster than a knife.

The arrow hit the guy in the knee, and he screamed on his way to the floor. Loud, so loud.

Oliver had a second arrow in his bow, aimed at the guy, but he was looking at her. He was staring at her, and she couldn’t read the look on his face. She didn’t understand why he didn’t come to her, why he wasn’t getting her down.

Roy appeared from behind Oliver, a blur of red, and he rushed to Felicity.

‘Oh, blondie’, she heard him and the pity in his voice hurt her much more than she would expected.

He reached up to the shackles on her wrist, but she screamed before he even touched them. Short, and piercing, she yelled, and she didn’t even understand why she did it.

Roy apologized quickly, taking a step back and looking at her with wide eyes. She didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know what she wanted him to do.

And then, Oliver was there. Kicking tattoo guy in the face with his bow, then handing it to Roy and ordering him to watch the unconscious man.

She still couldn’t read the way Oliver looked at her, she couldn’t focus enough time, she just wanted to go home.

‘I want home’, she whispered and Oliver closed his eyes for a second.

‘I need to take you down.’, he said with his voice modulator still on, but she nodded instantly.

He started with her feet, and she managed to keep herself up, a bit. Oliver moved to her wrists after, and she whimpered when the first hand fell down. The second the other was one uncuffed, she fell forward, into Oliver. She smelled the leather, and his aftershave, and she cried. She cried, as he held her up by the waist, because she didn’t have any strength left.

Roy handed Oliver a blanket, and he wrapped it around Felicity, still holding her up.

‘I didn’t tell him anything’, she whispered and Oliver left out a long puff of air. He seemed mad, but Felicity knew that he wasn’t mad at her.

She doesn’t really know how long they stayed like that, Oliver holding her up, her face pressed to his chest. She kept breathing in and out, as well as she could through her sobs. He didn’t say anything, he just held her close.

‘You need to leave’, Detective Lance’s voice came through the pounding in her ears, and when she lifted her head, he saw the older man standing next to them.

‘Go’, she whispered to Oliver. ‘Please’.

‘She can’t sit up’, he told Lance, and she heard the pain in his voice even through the voice modulator.

‘I’ve got her’, the Detective said softly. ‘I’ve got you, Felicity, okay?’.

She nodded, and he put a hand around her waist and another under her legs. He picked her up, and she turned her head into his uniform. Only when she was secure in Lance’s arms, she heard Oliver and Roy walking away.

‘Call Queen’, Oliver growled, and then he was gone.

Lance took her outside, slowly, so slowly, making sure not to shake her too much. The ambulance arrived second after, and everything turned into a blur. They cleaned the cuts on her stomach, made sure she didn’t have any broken ribs. They bandaged the cuts on her wrists and feet and gave her pain killers. But she was still awake. And Lance was there for it all, holding her hand. She talked to him, gave him her statement, but it helped, his presence made it easier.

She heard Digg pushing the breaks on the car before she saw it. Seconds later, she heard Oliver’s voice yelling her name, and she breathed out a sigh of relief. Lance noticed it, and let go of her hand, but Oliver was there, pushing his way into the ambulance, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly.

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

‘I’m okay’, she said. He looked at her, in pain and regret, and she shook her head. ‘I’m going to be okay. It could have been worse.’

‘Don’t say that’, he hissed. ‘This is worse enough.’

‘She’s got cuts on her wrists and ankles.’, the EMT spoke, talking straight at Oliver. ‘The bandages are going to need changing, but they’ll heal eventually. They probably won’t leave any scars. The cuts on her abdomen will heal quickly, and the bruises will disappear.’

‘She doesn’t have a concussion or any broken bones.’, Lance added.

‘But you still should come to the hospital’, the EMT nodded.

‘No’, Felicity shook her head. ‘You gave me pain killers, I know how to change the bandages, I don’t need a hospital.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver tried, but she didn’t let him.

‘I just want to go home’, she said as strong as she could, not looking at him.

Diggle and Lance shared a look. It was John who spoke, in a hesitant tone, but still soft.

‘Felicity, if he raped you, you need to get checked.’

Oliver growled beside her, and she instantly squeezed his hand.

‘He didn’t.’, she told Lance. ‘Not really. He would have, if he thought that was going to make me talk. But he didn’t, he just shoved his hand down...', she couldn't finish the sentence. 'Check the tape.’

‘I would still advise a hospital’, the EMT said.

‘I am still declining it.’, Felicity shook her head. Then, she turned to Oliver, trying her best not to start crying again. ‘I just want to go home, to my shower and my soft pajamas and my bed.’

‘Okay’, he sighed, squeezing her hand. ‘Let’s take you home.’

Felicity got up from the stretcher she was lying on, surprise to see that she could hold herself up on her own. She wrapped the blanket the EMTs gave her around her body as she would do with a towel, but once she got off the ambulance, Diggle handed her Roy’s red hoodie. He helped her put it on, careful not to tug on her bandages and it was a slow process, because her hands still hurt.

'Tell him I'm sorry for screaming.', she whispered up at Digg.

He shook his head. 'He knows, Felicity. He's worried.'

She nodded and took a step forward and found that she could walk. Felicity made her way to the car on her own, even if Oliver was by her side, his hand hovering over her back, just in case she fell. 

Oliver sat in the back with her in the car, and he let her lean on his side, resting her head on his shoulder and holding her hand. When they arrived at her house and got out of the car, she grabbed Diggle’s hand, startling him.

‘I’m fine, John.’, she smiled. ‘Go home.’

‘No, I-‘

‘Lyla doesn’t sleep well without you in the bed.’ He glared, but she continued. ‘And she still has morning sickness, so she’ll need you there for that. Please go home and take care of the mother of your unborn mini-Digg.’

He huffed, but bent down to kiss her forehead.

‘Tomorrow I’m calling a buddy of mine that works at a security system. And he’s going to install the best security system he can get his hands on.’

‘I-‘

‘It’s not up for discussion.’

Felicity smiled. ‘I was going to say that I’m okay with that.’

‘Good.’, he smiled back. ‘Call if you need anything’, he told Oliver, who nodded wordlessly.

‘You’re going to have to break the lock’, she whined at Oliver, who shook his head in response.

‘Your bag was still on the ground when I got here.’

‘Yay for small miracles’, Felicity tried to joke, but by the look on Oliver’s face, she didn’t deliver it quite well.

They didn’t speak after that, as they got into the house and Oliver turned on all the lights he could find. Felicity appreciated it, but she quickly grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom.

She didn’t have a very long shower, the EMTs told her to be careful about the bandages. But the hot water helped in relaxing her muscles, and the smell of her shampoo always made her feel better.

Oliver must have been listening out for the shower, because 5 minutes after she turned the water off, he knocked on the door. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah’, she sighed, struggling to braid her still wet hair. Her hands still hurt, but it was manageable.

‘What are you doing?’, Oliver insisted.

‘I’m putting lotion on the bruises.’

There was a pause. ‘Do you need help?’

‘No’, she smiled. ‘I think you seeing me almost naked is enough excitement for one day.’

There was another pause. ‘You’re unconsciously flirting. That’s a good sign.’

She could hear the smirk in his voice, and that made her smile, even if she was blushing furiously.

‘I’ll be out in a minute, Oliver.’

He didn’t say anything more, but she heard his steps as he was walking away.

After she was done with putting lotion all over her body, she put on a pair of black boxers that one of her exes left behind, and the largest pajama shirt she owned, which was a pink one with Tweety on it. She didn’t even feel embarrassed about it. Felicity knew she looked like a mess, but she was so happy that she was alive, that she survived with minimum damaged, that she didn’t fail Oliver… She really didn’t care about how she looked in front of him.

When she got out of the bathroom, Felicity found Oliver in the kitchen. He had the sleeves to his dress shirt folded up, and he was barefoot, washing a pan in the sink. There were two plates with grilled cheese sandwiches on them, and two mugs of tea.

But that didn’t make her pause, not the very domestic image she was presented with. What made Felicity pause was seeing his bow and quiver in the hallway, leaning against her front door. And the duffle she knew kept his hood, next to her yellow sneakers. They looked right, for some reason Felicity didn’t understand. She thought they looked right, looked good in her hallway, blended in well.

She shook her head and slowly made her way in the kitchen, wordlessly sitting down at the table. Oliver was drying his hands and he smiled at her.

‘Are you staying?’, Felicity asked before anything else.

Oliver froze, and there was a flash of something in his eyes. ‘I’m not letting you out of my sight.’

Felicity nodded, she thought as much. ‘The dresser in my bedroom’, she tilted her head, ‘the bottom drawer. There should be some sweatpants and t-shirts from my ex. Some should fit you.’

He didn’t say anything else, just left the kitchen. She started eating the sandwich, with was absolutely delicious. Felicity told him as much when he came back.

‘You’re just hungry’, he smiled. ‘Don’t forget to drink your tea.’

After she was done with the sandwich, she picked up her mug and leaned back on the chair. For the first time that night, she was able to look at Oliver and actually see him. He was wearing comfortable clothes and eating in her small kitchen, but he looked raw. He seemed very tense, like all his muscles were pushed to the limit. To Felicity, it looked like every move he made was calculated, like he was trying to not do anything wrong. He probably thought he was going to trigger her. Like Roy made her scream in the warehouse.

And there was a very violent look in his eyes. He seemed angry and she saw hate burning in the blue of his eyes. But Felicity also saw pain, and guilt. And that hurt her, so much, because he didn’t understand. He never did understand, how much it meant for her, that he was always there to save her. Maybe he wasn’t there exactly when she needed him to, but he was never too late. Oliver always saved Felicity, but he always felt guilty about it. And that, more than anything, broke her heart.

‘You’re crying’, Oliver whispered.

‘Thank you’, she said, wiping her tears away.

‘Don’t say that’, he hissed, making goosebumps appear on her skin.

‘You never get it.’, she sighed, looking at him. ‘You always do this. You save me, you always, always save me, but you never understand how important that is, because you’re too busy blaming yourself.’

‘It is my fault’, his tone was different, less harsh. ‘Every time you get hurt, it’s because of me, because your connection to the Arrow.’

‘Yes.’

That surprised him, because he jumped, just a bit, in his seat. He closed his eyes and didn’t open them back.

‘Bad guys get me because I help the Arrow. But you, Oliver, you never give up on finding me. And that’, she took a deep breath, trying to keep her crying down, ‘that is the most important thing. Oliver, I know you will always find me. Please, understand that. Today, I didn’t say a word, because I knew you were coming for me.’

He opened his eyes, and Felicity was surprised to see that they were watery.

‘Oliver’, she sighed and looked down. ‘You give me strength. I am capable of doing a lot of things for you. And I choose to do them, anything that you say or do will not change my mind. And you know that.’

‘But, Oliver, you need to understand how important it is to me, knowing that you’ll always be there. Today, I wouldn’t have…’

‘Don’t’, Oliver whispered but she pushed on.

‘Today, I would have told him… But I didn’t, because I kept saying in my head that you’ll come for me. And you did. I’m not saying that I… I know I wouldn’t have managed to keep quiet if he burnt me. But you got there. And your secret is safe, and I’m alive, and these are just cuts, Oliver, they don’t matter.’

‘Your pain matters’, he said forcefully.

‘Your guilt doesn’t.’ She took a deep breath and wiped her tears once more. She stopped crying, so it was easier to talk. ‘Don’t feel guilty because he took me. Feel proud because you got me back.’

‘I can’t’, Oliver whispered after a few beats. ‘You’re still bleeding.’

‘And I don’t care’, she sighed. She smiled at him and shook her head. ‘None of it matters anymore. It stopped being important the second I saw your green leather and the second I heard your arrow.’

Oliver sighed, and his shoulder slumped. Felicity didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know what she needed, but she just wanted to go to sleep.

So she stood up from her chair, and he immediately followed. Felicity slowly made his way towards him, until she was standing in front of him. She surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist, but after a few seconds, Oliver let out a long breath and brought his arms around her shoulders. He held her tight, and she turned her head until her nose touched his neck.

‘Let’s go to bed’, she whispered. ‘You need it as much as I do.’

When they pulled away, Felicity went straight to her bedroom. Oliver stood back for a few minutes, gathering the dishes, checking all the windows in the house and shutting the lights. When he came into the bedroom, he was carrying his bow and quiver. It made Felicity smile.

He put them on the other part of the bed, the one she wasn’t lying on, and moved towards the armchair in that corner of a room.

She turned around to face him properly, and extended a hand over the duvet.

‘Come here.’, she whispered, making him freeze. ‘You need it as much as I do.’

He turned, eventually, and got into bed next to her. Felicity didn’t think twice before she huddled up next to him. When Oliver lifted his hand, Felicity rested her head on his chest, and put her leg between his. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and their free hands met on his stomach, their fingers twisting together instantly.

‘I can’t lose you’, Oliver whispered.

‘I know. And you’re not going to lose me. Because you’ll always come for me.’

‘I almost lost you today.’

She snuggled even closer to him, then, buried her face in the space between his neck and his shoulder and he let her. Oliver held her even more tightly than before and Felicity kissed the skin under her lips, quick and soft, turning her head around and closing her eyes.

‘Nothing hurts anymore.’, she whispered. ‘I’m not cold and nothing hurts.’

‘Why?’

‘You’, Felicity answered, knowing she shouldn’t.

Oliver didn’t say anything. But he held her, and he kissed her forehead, and he ran his fingers through her hair. And Felicity fell asleep, feeling safe and warm, surrounded by his smell and counting his breaths.


	33. Felicity vs. Stiles Stilinski

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _aka the one where Felicity and Stiles are cousins, and he and his boyfriend, Derek, come to visit._
> 
> Teen Wolf crossover, obviously. Established Sterek. You don't have to know Teen Wolf to be able to read this, though :)

Monday evening found Felicity bound to a chair, with handcuffs, staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. Monday night found Felicity back in the Foundry, after being saved by her boys.

She was sitting on one of the metal tables, Oliver and Roy fussing around her while Diggle cleaned up the wounds the cuffs left on her wrists, and the cuts she had on her upper thighs. They weren’t even that bad, she knew they will be completely gone in a week or two. But she let them fuss, taking comfort in the warmth they were showing her.

They were all silent, the only sound heard in the Foundry being the small hisses Felicity let out when the alcohol touched her cut skin, and the distinct sound of Roy sharpening arrows.

So when they heard music, they all froze.

_Skinny little girl like you_

Nobody moved. The song kept playing.

_Shouldn’t be out here on the street alone_

_You’re tired and it’s getting late_

_And you keep on lying on the telephone_

([Hanni El Khatib - Skinny Little Girl](http://youtu.be/Bi-dRZIuOXU))

‘That’s your phone’, Roy said, making his way towards her desk and picking it up. When he saw the screen, his eyes grew wide and there was a smirk on his lips. ‘There’s a twink calling you.’

‘A what?’, Oliver asked roughly.

Felicity sighed, while Diggle went back to cleaning her wounds. ‘Is it Stiles?’

‘What the hell is a Stiles?’, Roy frowned, but nodded.

‘I have to get it.’, Felicity turned around towards Oliver, apologetically.

‘Call him back after Digg’s done.’

She shook her head. ‘If I don’t answer, he’ll hack my phone, track my gps, and we’ll have all of SCPD here in 3 minutes.’

Oliver’s eyes grew wide at that, and he opened his mouth to say something, but she didn’t let him.

‘Roy, come here please. Answer and put it on speaker. And please, everybody shut up.’

He complied, and Diggle and Oliver nodded, so she took a deep breath and groaned when the call came through.

•••

‘Did you have to change my ringtone? To _that_ song?’, Oliver heard Felicity groan, and he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

There was a manly giggle on the other side of the line, and a man’s joyful voice came through.

‘It fits, sweetie. It fits so good.’

‘You are a horrible person’, Felicity pouted. ‘When did you even change it?’

‘The last time we saw each other, obviously.’

‘Stiles!’, Felicity’s eyebrows shot up. ‘That was four months ago! I would have noticed sooner. We talk every week!’

There was a hum. ‘On Skype. And you usually call on the phone, because you still cannot comprehend that I have unlimited minutes with your phone number. What are you doing? Am I interrupting something? Cause it is pretty late at night, I get that, 11 pm is pretty late for you old people, and you are breathing kinda hard, so if I interrupted you getting some, tell me and I’ll hang up and you’ll tell me the juicy details tomorrow.’

The guy talked as fast as Felicity, if not faster. It was hard for Oliver to keep up. He was used to this speed on Felicity, but it felt weird hearing someone else talk like her. And a man, nonetheless, whom he didn’t know, Oliver hadn’t even heard of him before. Felicity never mentioned anything about anybody called Stiles.

‘Stiles’, he heard her sigh. ‘I’m four years older than you. And I was working out.’

The guy snorted. ‘You? Yeah, right!’ His tone was dripping sarcasm, and once again, that was very familiar to Oliver. Judging by the way Diggle and Roy were looking at Felicity, they thought so too.

‘Well it’s not so much working out, as it is getting the shit beat out of me by a friend and calling it self-defense.’

Oliver wanted to protest, but Felicity turned to him and grinned innocently, so he kept his mouth shut.

‘So, I am kinda busy’, Felicity continued. ‘If this is a social call, let me call you later. If you need something, spill.’

‘What?’, the guy faked surprise, ‘I can’t call my favorite blonde just to see how she is?’

‘Second favorite’, Felicity didn’t miss a beat. ‘Strawberry blonde Lydia Martin is above me.’

Stiles snorted. ‘Not so much anymore, no.’

That made Felicity raise a very surprised eyebrow, but she didn’t say anything, because Stiles started talking again.

‘So, uh, what are you doing this weekend? And by weekend, I mean Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.’

‘I’m working.’

‘In the weekend too?’, Stiles asked, and there was a hopeful tone in his voice. It made Felicity turn towards Oliver.

‘Do we have anything important this weekend?’, she whispered.

Oliver shook his head, there wasn’t anything big happening with QC or with the Arrow. Not in the weekend. And even if it was, he was willing to give her the days off. If he found out whom this Stiles was, Oliver added in his mind.

‘No’, Felicity smiled thankfully, ‘I’m not working the weekend. Why?’

‘Woohoo!’, Stiles’ high pitched voice came through, making everybody wince. ‘There’s a conference and I get extra credit for a course, and I need to suck up to the teacher because I wanna do my doctorate with him. It’s an interesting conference, though; I would’ve gone either way. So I have to go to that Thursday and Friday, but I thought I’d hang out on the weekend for a bit, I haven’t seen your cute butt in a while.’

Felicity sighed.

‘So how do you feel’, Stiles continued, ‘about me and someone hogging your guest room for a bit?’

Felicity turned to Oliver, who shook his head and mouthed ‘I can move’, because he has been staying in Felicity’s guest room for the past weeks.

Diggle was done treating her by this point, but none of them moved from Felicity’s side. Oliver was interested to find out who Stiles was, and Diggle seemed to share his concern, but he also appeared to share Roy’s amusement.

‘How do you feel’, Felicity shook her head, ‘about you and Scott sharing my living room couch, cause my guest room is occupied.’

‘By who?’, Stiles sing-songs, making her roll her eyes.

‘You follow Starling news. Know what happened with my boss?’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘He’s been staying with me’, Felicity said, simply, no inflection in her voice, even though they all knew it was a big deal. ‘He got the company back and some of his assets, but it’s still a bit touch and go and it’ll take a bit longer to fix, so Oliver’s sleeping in my guest room.’

‘When you say that’, Stiles started, an amused tone in his voice, ‘do you mean he’s pretending to sleep in your guest room while he’s actually banging you against the wall every night, or is he actually sleeping there?’

Felicity blushed a deep red and Oliver wasn’t doing any better.

‘Firstly’, she hissed, ‘you will never use the phrase _bang up against the wall_ in relation to me ever again. And secondly, noooo.’, she said forcefully.

‘Okay’, Stiles laughed.

‘So Scott’s okay with the couch?’

‘I’m not coming with Scott.’

‘What happened to Scott?’, Felicity asked, urgently.

‘Nothing.’, Stiles chuckled. ‘I’m coming with Derek.’

There was a pause, in which Felicity frowned. ‘Derek. Derek Hale?’

‘Yup. My boyfriend.’

Felicity’s face transformed completely then, a look of pure shock on her face. It made all the men around her snicker.

‘Derek Hale, the way older guy-‘

‘Just 5 years.’

‘-whom your father, the Sheriff, arrested a while back.’

‘Yeah.’, Stiles answered, simply.

‘The one you inexplicably formed a friendship with.’

‘More than a friendship.’

‘Aha’, Felicity shook her head, than sighed. ‘How long?’

‘About 2 months.’

‘Are you fucking kidding me?’, Felicity hissed. ‘And you’re just telling me now?’

‘It never came up’, Stiles said forcefully.

‘Horrible human being’, Felicity nodded.

‘You love me.’, Oliver could hear the grin in Stiles’ voice.

‘Fuck you.’, Felicity answered easily, surprising, once again, the men around her. She didn’t usually swear like this. Oliver was enjoying it a bit too much.

‘So I’ll see you on Thursday morning.’

‘With Derek.’, Felicity nodded.

‘Yeah, with Derek.’, Stiles said in a very soft voice, that made Felicity pause.

‘It’s like that?’, she asked in a similar tone.

‘Yeah.’

Felicity sighed. ‘Can’t wait to meet him, then. Now leave me alone, I have to go punch a bag.’

‘Love you, sweets!’, Stiles said, voice once again playful. ‘I’ll see your sexy butt soon.’

‘Stop’, Felicity groaned, blushing once again. ‘Leave me alone, hang up now.’

‘Kay’, Stiles laughed. ‘Bye.’

He then hung up.

Felicity sighed, deeply, letting her head down for a few seconds. When she brought it back up again, looking between the three of them, she was blushing.

‘Can we please ignore that ever happened?’

‘Who names their kid Stiles?’, Roy wrinkled his noise.

‘The Sheriff of somewhere’, Diggle unhelpfully pointed out.

‘Beacon Hills’, Felicity supplied, a resigned look on her face.

‘Who is he?’, Oliver asked.

‘The Sheriff’s my uncle. Stiles is my cousin.’

‘You never mentioned them’, Roy frowned, while Oliver and Digg shared a look.

Felicity raised an eyebrow at Roy. ‘I hardly ever mention my family. But I should, cause Stiles and his dad are pretty amazing. Way better than my mother.’

Before any of them got to ask, she turned towards Oliver. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Felicity’, he smiled. ‘It’s fine. I can stay here, you know, it’s no problem.’

‘No, you shouldn’t’, she shook her head. ‘Unless you can’t handle Stiles. Then you’ll leave, no questions asked, it’s understandable.’

Oliver frowned. ‘Why couldn’t I handle a college kid that’s related to you?’

Felicity grinned, and it looked evil. ‘He talks faster than I do, loves to read and research twice as much as I do, and he has ADD.’

‘So?’, Oliver frowned some more.

‘He’s a sarcastic piece of shit and can easily get on your nerves.’

‘You swear a lot’, is what Oliver decided on saying.

Felicity sighed. ‘See? He’s already _meddling_.’

•••

Over the next few days, every chance she got, Felicity told Oliver something about Stiles. Little things, bigger things, anything. Oliver appreciated it, and smiled, and he was sure he will be having a great time on the weekend.

Not only because Stiles seemed like an insane kid, but also because he had a feeling it will be enjoyable to see Felicity interact with him.

Oliver couldn’t wait. Even if he would never admit that out loud.

•••

On Thursday morning, Oliver was actually asleep. It happened more often than not, since he moved in with Felicity, and he tried his best to not think about what it meant.

So he was fast asleep when he heard Felicity scream. He was out of bed in an instant, grabbing the baseball bat Felicity let him keep by his bed. (It had been a long discussion, fight, really, she forbid him to have any daggers or arrows in the house. The bat was the only thing she let him have.)

When he got to the living room, bat raised, Oliver froze completely, suddenly feeling very happy that he went to bed in a shirt.

Felicity was on her back, on the floor, in the middle of the living room, barefoot and in her pajamas. There was a young man over her, tall and lankly looking, dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, with very messy hair. He was straddling her hips, holding Felicity with both hands on her face, kissing her enthusiastically. Her cheeks, her eyes, her forehead, her hair, everything, quickly and accompanied by a _mwah_ sound effect.

But Felicity was laughing, and her hands were wrapped tightly around the boy’s waist, so Oliver quickly understood that there was no threat, and that it was just Stiles.

There was another boy, no, another man in the hallway. He was better built, muscular, with dark hair and a strong jaw. He looked very rough, an image completed by the leather jacket he was wearing. Derek, Oliver’s mind supplied.

He was carrying two bags, but seemed as frozen in place and shocked as Oliver was. But then, his expression turned into one of fond exasperation, and Oliver could relate.

Stiles turned to Oliver, then, raising a very judgemental eyebrow. Then, he turned back towards Felicity.

‘What did I tell you about getting an aluminum bat?’

Derek snorted at that, while Stiles got off Felicity.

‘Help me up’, she whined. He ignored her, making his way towards Oliver.

Stiles wordlessly took the bat away from his hands and propped it on the wall, and then smiled.

‘You must be Oliver’, he extended a hand. ‘Sorry for the wake up call.’

‘Stiles’, he shook his hand, surprised by his strong grip.

‘Help me up’, Felicity whined again, making Stiles snort.

Derek moved to her, quickly, and extended a hand, helping her up.

‘You’re big’, is the first thing Felicity said, making Derek freeze and Stiles and Oliver share an amused look.

‘Hands off the goods, Smoak’, Stiles raised an eyebrow.

Felicity blushed and quickly took her hand away.

‘I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Or think it, at all, really. Although it’s obvious, you are big, and I don’t mean that in a you’re fat way, clearly, cause you’re far away from fat. Muscles, you have muscles, is what I mean. And you’re tall.’

Derek blinked down at her for a few seconds, then turned towards Stiles.

‘When you said Felicity was a lot like you, you failed to mention the babble.’

‘So you’re familiar with the babble?’, Oliver raised an eyebrow.

Derek nodded. ‘There’s two of them now.’

That made Oliver pause.

‘We’re not that bad’, Felicity smiled innocently.

Oliver raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t know about Stiles, but you _are_ that bad.’

‘Am not’, she pouted, making her way towards Stiles and grabbing his hand.

‘I love having you inside me.’, Oliver said in the most straight voice he could muster, making Felicity blush and hide her face under Stiles’ open shirt.

Stiles, who was frowning. ‘What even was the context for that?’

‘Bluetooth phone call’, Oliver pointed to his ear.

‘Well, I’m not that bad’, Stiles grinned.

Derek snorted.

‘Shut it’, Stiles warned. ‘I’m starving, do you have some food? No. Wait. I should shower, we’ve been on the road half the night.’

‘You boys go shower, I’ll make breakfast.’, Felicity nodded.

Upon seeing Stiles grin, she pointed a finger at his face. ‘Shower sepertely.’

‘You could use the shower in the guest room’, Oliver pointed out. ‘It’s...  bigger’.

Felicity snorted. ‘And by that, he means that it doesn’t smell like strawberries, like the one in the living room does.’

‘But I love strawberries’, Stiles pouted, making Derek roll his eyes.

‘I know’, Felicity grinned.

•••

As Stiles and Derek showered, Felicity quickly got dressed for work, as did Oliver. They met in the kitchen, when they have already formed a routine for making breakfast. So by the time Derek got out of the shower, there was coffee, fruits and yogurt already waiting for him on the table, and Oliver was almost done with the pancakes.

He watched, amused, as Felicity sat down on the chair in front of Derek, and dramatically crossed her hands on the table, glaring all the while.

‘Do I have to do the whole speech, about how I will subject you to bodily harm if you ever hurt Stiles?’

Derek froze, with his coffee cup still in the air. He swallowed and put the mug down, regarding Felicity with a frown.

‘If it makes you feel better, go for it. But, no offence to you, Felicity, your threats are nothing compared to seeing Stiles’ father clean his guns. On the kitchen table. In front of me.’

Felicity burst out laughing. ‘Oh my god, did he really?’

‘Yes’, Derek sighed. ‘It was very disturbing. I am not one to scare easily, but I couldn’t look him in the eye for a week.’

‘Wait’, Oliver frowned, bringing over the pancakes and sitting down next to Felicity. ‘I just realized. When you told me that Stiles and Scott spent a night in the holding cells of the police station, you meant that Stiles’ father put them there.’

‘Yup’, Felicity grinned.

‘I don’t know that one’, Derek frowned. ‘When was this?’

She giggled. ‘They were 14, I think. They TPd one of their teacher’s houses. With superglue. I mean, with toilet paper dipped in superglue.’

‘Which teacher?’, Derek asked around a smirk.

‘Finstock’, Stiles said, making his way into the kitchen. ‘But dad never told him it was us, thank god.’

He sat down next to Derek and quickly kissed his cheek, grabbing his coffee mug and greedily drinking out of it.

‘Awh, Felicity, you loooooove me’, he cooed. ‘You made pancakes.’

‘Oliver did, actually’, she pointed out, amused.

Stiles turned to look at Oliver, then, and he stared for a long while. Oliver stared back, raising a questioning eyebrow. Felicity watched the interaction with an amused smirk, but didn’t stop eating her breakfast.

After a few long moments, Derek sighed.

‘Stiles. You’re being creepy again. And rude.’

‘Sorry’, he said, but didn’t look away.

‘You’re really not’, Oliver pointed out.  Then, he sighed. ‘Just ask whatever it is you want to ask.’

‘Just don’t’, Felicity winced, absently putting a hand on Oliver’s knee.

Stiles shook his head. ‘I just have one question.’

‘Go ahead’, Oliver nodded, mentally preparing himself for dodging the awkward question about his time on the island.

‘Most guys with your status wouldn’t look twice at Felicity. Because, no matter how beautiful she is, she’s still a nerd and most guys hate that, and she’s still a genius, and most guys are afraid of that. So why did you?’

Oliver blinked. ‘I wasn’t expecting that.’, he admitted.

Stiles made a face. ‘I’m not gonna ask about the island. As much as I’d like to know, I respect you enough to understand the need for secrecy.’

‘And PTSD’, Stiles added, after a beat.

Felicity sighed, completely in sync with Derek. They both seemed surprised, so they blinked awkwardly at one another, before nodding and looking back towards Oliver.

Who smiled at Stiles. ‘Thank you for that. And to answer your question, I’d be dead without Felicity. I trust her and that’s rare.’

‘So you’re using her?’, Stiles raised his eyebrows.

Felicity started saying something, but Oliver stopped her by squeezing her hand.

‘Sure’, he grinned. ‘She is my EA, that is her job. But, in response, she uses my credit card to buy shoes.’

‘I do not’, Felicity shrieked.

‘No, you’re right’, Oliver winked at her. ‘You use it to buy tech.’

She sighed and playfully hit his arm, then turned to Stiles.

‘We’re friends. There are mutual benefits.’ She pulled a face. ‘That sounded kinky, ignore that. You know what, Stiles? Shut up.’, she said forcefully. ‘You’re making this awkward.’

‘I’m just doing my closest-thing-to-a-big-brother duties.’, he shrugged, unperturbed.

‘Can you not, though?’, Derek put a hand around his shoulders. Then, he turned towards Felicity. ‘Can you not, either? We’ve all passed the point of _what are your intentions_ speech.’

‘What are your intentions, though?’, Stiles leaned forward towards Oliver, earning a slap on the back of the head from Derek. He ignored it.

Oliver smiled and leaned back on his chair. ‘How did you put it?’, he smirked. ‘Bang her against the wall every night?’

‘Oliver!’, Felicity spluttered, hitting his leg. He laughed, and Felicity joined him, eventually.

‘His intention is to be the death of me, apparently’, Felicity told Stiles, a small whine in her tone.

‘I know that feeling’, Derek sighed and Stiles had the decency to look sheepish. That didn’t stop him from kissing his cheek again, and moving to quickly kiss his lips. Derek playfully hit his shoulder when he pulled back, and rolled his eyes at Stiles’ antics.

‘We have to go to work’, Felicity said to Stiles. ‘You know where the spare key is. Will you guys be okay?’

‘Sure’, he mumbled around a mouthful of pancakes. ‘The conference starts at 9 and lasts till 6.’

‘What will you be doing till he’s at the conference?’, Felicity frowned at Derek.

‘I’m going too’, he smiled. ‘It’s actually pretty interesting.’

‘Oka-aay’, Felicity said, slowly. ‘I don’t know when we’ll be home, we have a lot of work to do at the office.’

‘S’okay’, Stiles nodded. ‘Midnight snack and breakfast in the morning is good enough’.

‘Don’t worry about us’, Derek said softly, making Felicity nod.

‘Felicity, are we taking your car?’, Oliver asked, absently putting a hand on her elbow.

‘You fit in the mini?’, Stiles asked, wide-eyed. ‘How?’

‘Carefully’, Oliver whispered to him.

‘Yes, we’re taking my car.’, Felicity punched his shoulder.

‘Good. In that case’, he turned towards Stiles and Derek. ‘My driver, John Diggle, will be here to pick you up at 8:45.’

‘That’s not necessary’, Derek frowned.

‘Really, dude’, Stiles agreed. ‘Thanks, but we’ll be okay.’

Felicity sighed. ‘I’d be a lot more calmer if I knew Digg was with you. I know you’re all grown up and shit, but you’re still in my territory and I have to take care of you.’

Stiles narrowed his eyes.

‘Digg’s a friend. A good friend, not just his driver. And he knows the best burger joint in this city. And the best pizza place.’

She lowered her voice. ‘And the best comic book store.’

‘Sold!’, Stiles nodded intensively, much to Derek’s exasperation.

‘We’ll keep in touch’, Felicity bent down to kiss Stiles’ cheek. He hummed happily and leaned into her touch. She did the same thing to Derek, but he froze, completely, eyes growing wide and looking down at his hands.

Felicity shared a look with Stiles over Derek’s head, and her cousin nodded.

‘You’ll get used to it. Eventually.’, Felicity smiled, making Derek look up. ‘My awkwardness and the need to get touchy-feely.’

‘It’s fine.’, was all Derek said, but he didn’t sound convinced. Felicity didn’t push the issue, though, just shared another look with Stiles. Then she left to grab her bag.

‘If you need anything, just ask Digg, okay?’

Stiles nodded. ‘Thanks, Oliver.’

He just smiled and went after Felicity, but not before seeing in the corner of his eye how tightly Derek was holding onto Stiles’ hand.

•••

‘Why were you so reluctant about Derek?’, Oliver asked Felicity over lunch, when it was just the two of them eating salads in his office.

‘It’s complicated.’, she said.

‘I’m curious, but you don’t have to tell me. It’s not my business.’

‘You’re right’, Felicity nodded. ‘It’s not. But, you’re a really good judge of character’, she smiled at him. ‘I’d like your opinion, but you need to know the story first.’

‘Okay’, he shrugged.

‘Let me start with the things I shouldn’t know, things that neither Stiles or my uncle told me.’

Oliver smirked. ‘You checked him out.’

‘Yup’, Felicity grinned. ‘Had to hack into the Beacon Hills files, but I did. He uh…’, she took a deep breath, and Oliver was suddenly faced with a very serious Felicity. ‘When he was 16, he got involved with an older woman, who used him to get information and she burned his family alive.’

Oliver’s jaw dropped.

‘He survived, and so did one of his bigger sisters, and an uncle, but he was catatonic for years. They left Beacon Hills, headed for New York, I think. Laura, the sister, died 6 years later, in Beacon Hills. That’s when Derek came back, looking for her, and things went crazy. A couple of weeks later, his uncle went missing from the hospital and was declared dead.’

‘I don’t know how Stiles, Scott and a bunch of other friends got involved, but, bottom line is… Moving on to things I should know’, she smiled.

‘These kids have been through a lot since then. And when I say _kids_ , I mean Derek too, because he became part of their group. There’s a whole lot of weird things happening in Beacon Hills, and they always seem to be caught in the middle of it.’

‘Weird?’, Oliver frowned.

She shrugged and looked out the window, talking quickly. ‘They were trapped in the school, at night, with a serial killer who was out to get them. Stiles was fixing his car when his jeep, that was on one of those cranes, fell on the mechanic. His father was kidnapped by Stiles’ English teacher, who was dating Derek at the time, and who killed 9 people in some form of ritual sacrifice. Some of their friends went missing, they were killed, Scott’s… soulmate, really, Allison, she died, in front of them, I think, nobody ever told me the details about that.’

‘Jesus Christ’, Oliver breathed out, making Felicity turn to him.

‘And I haven’t even got to their senior year of highschool yet. Stiles was in the hospital a total of 15 times in the past 6 years, he was shot twice, cut with a sword once and one time he was suspected of having front temporal dementia, which, ironically enough’, she ran a hand through her hair and winced, ‘is what Stiles’ mother had. She died when he was 8, and he was in the room at the time.’

Oliver couldn’t really say anything.

‘I was reluctant of Derek because it was Derek’, Felicity said a lot more softly than before. ‘But, after thinking about it, I really should have seen this coming, because he was there for Stiles every step of the way. Scott was too, but…’, she shook her head. ‘Scott is Stiles’ brother, that’s what he always says. He never once said that about Derek.’, she smiled. ‘Should’ve seen it coming.’

‘They both must be very strong men’, Oliver said eventually, ‘to be able to pull through all of that.’

‘Yeah. I’m proud of him.’, Felicity smiled. ‘And Derek, he… He really makes Stiles happy, he told me so, his dad told me so, I even called Scott and he told me so.’

‘But you still want to see it for yourself’, Oliver smiled.

She chuckled. ‘He may be my cousin, but he’s always been my brother. And he cares a whole lot about the people around him, and he obsesses easily.’

Oliver nodded. ‘Okay. I’ve got your back.’

‘Oh?’, Felicity raised her eyebrows.

‘Operation see if Derek’s good for Stiles is a go’, Oliver grinned, making her laugh.

•••

In the end, Oliver and Felicity got home around 7 pm. Oliver decided the Arrow needed a night off, maybe 3, much to Felicity, Roy and Diggle’s pleasure.

Felicity went straight to her bedroom when she got home, just like she always did, not sparing a glance towards the living room. Oliver, however, saw Derek sitting on the couch, reading what looked to be a very old book, and Stiles sitting on the floor by his legs, asleep with his head leaning on Derek’s thigh.

Derek lifted his eyes and awkwardly waved a hand, but Stiles didn’t even stir.

‘Everything okay?’, he mouthed at Derek who nodded in response, mouthing back ‘Just tired’.

Oliver smiled and made his way towards his room, and took a shower. He still had his towel wrapped around his waist when there was a knock on his bedroom door. He didn’t want to yell, and risk waking up Stiles, so he just went and opened the door, expecting Felicity.

He found Stiles. Who was staring, eyes roaming all over Oliver’s body, over his scars.

‘Is that a rune?’, Stiles asked curiously, and Oliver was really not expecting that reaction.

‘No, it kinda looks more like an anti possession tattoo.’, Stiles continued.

‘Anti possession against what?’, Oliver frowned, deeply.

‘Demons’, Stiles deadpanned.

‘I don’t watch Supernatural’, Oliver said, slowly, vaguely remembering one of Felicity’s rants.

Stiles was still staring, a small frown between his brows, and it made Oliver smile.

‘My eyes are up here, Stiles.’

‘Right’, the boy coughed, finally looking at his face. ‘Felicity wants to go to some place called Big Belly Burger for dinner.’

‘Okay’, Oliver nodded. ‘You think I should put on some clothes first?’

‘Probably’, Stiles said. ‘I’ll leave you to that.’ And he was gone, leaving Oliver very confused. He closed the door and got dressed.

•••

Oliver drove them to Big Belly in his Audi (it was the only car he could get his hands on, and he still wasn't completely sure Felicity didn’t do something vaguely illegal to get it), much to Stiles’ excitement.

He kept touching things, Oliver observed. Absently, he’d run his fingers over different surfaces, from the car’s roof to the doorjamb at Big Belly. Stiles would also touch Derek, a lot. A small run of fingers over his arm, around his neck when he’d pass him, he’d press himself to his side when they were sitting next to each other. And Derek didn’t seem to mind it, at all.

Oliver would’ve thought Derek was the bad boy type. After Felicity shared his story today, that was clearly not the case. But Oliver still wasn’t expecting Derek to act like the way he did with Stiles. He listened to his rants, he always accepted the touches he offered, sometimes touching Stiles back. Diggle told him that they spent most of the day holding hands, and that he even heard Derek say ‘I love you’ once.

Derek was still a closed off person, Oliver thought. But he opened up to Stiles, he smiled at him, didn’t shy away from his kisses, and they bickered like an old married couple, much to his and Felicity’s amusement.

When they got to Big Belly Burger, Stiles moaned when the smell of the food hit his nose.

‘You’re in public’, Derek reminded him, dragging him to a booth.

‘It’s a normal reaction, sweetie’, Felicity smiled at his cousin. ‘Wait till you actually taste some, they do make good curly fries.’

Stiles just groaned, collapsing in the booth, Derek sitting next to him, sides pressed closely together. Felicity and Oliver sat on the other side of the table, and the only reason why he realized he was pressing himself against Felicity’s side was the eyebrow Derek raised.

He honestly didn’t realize he was doing it. Thankfully, Derek didn’t say anything, so Oliver shook his head and moved on.

After they ordered, Felicity and Stiles started talking about people from Beacon Hills, and Oliver, once again, couldn’t really keep up. A shared look with Derek revealed he felt the same way.

‘It’s not as bad when it’s just Felicity’, he said to him in a low voice, not wanting to interrupt their conversation. ‘I can keep up with Felicity.’

Derek nodded. ‘And I can keep up with Stiles. This is … distracting.’

Oliver smiled at that.

‘If you don’t mind me saying’, Oliver started hesitantly, but didn’t take his eyes off Derek. ‘He doesn’t seem like your type.’

Derek snorted. ‘I thought so too. I was wrong, though. He’s stubborn, and he fought to prove it to me.’

Oliver spared a glance at Felicity. ‘It runs in the family’, he said, before he could stop himself.

Derek narrowed his eyes, but it wasn’t judgmental, it was curious. ‘I’m not going to ask’, he said. ‘Stiles will, though.’

Oliver tilted his head. ‘Wouldn’t be the first.’

‘What are you two talking about?’, Felicity’s soft voice came through, as she bumped her shoulder with his.

‘About how we can’t keep up with the both of you’, he smiled.

Stiles snickered. ‘Dad used to call us Hurricane ADD and Hurricane Genius.’

‘He still calls you that’, Derek said.

‘You’re not supposed to say that in public’, Stiles whined, playfully hitting his chest.

Felicity just shook her head.

‘Derek, I have a question’, she smiled innocently, putting her elbow on the table and resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘What.’

‘We’re still working on intonation’, Stiles petted his hair, making Derek glare. Oliver fought back a snort.

‘What did Scott say when you two got together?’, Felicity smiled. ‘What did he tell you?’

Stiles started laughing, covering his face with his hands.

Derek tilted his head. ‘Do you want the PG-13 version?’

‘No’, Felicity shook her head, eyes wide and excited.

‘He told me that if I hurt him, he’ll cut me in pieces and spread me across the state.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow at that, and so did Oliver.

‘And that he’s never seen Stiles so happy, so I must be doing something right’, Derek smiled. Then, he rolled his eyes. ‘Then he blushed and said that he doesn’t ever want to know what and how I’m doing right and that a sock on the door knob is common courtesy.’

Oliver snorted at that, and Felicity laughed, bright and loud, resting her head on his shoulder.

‘Lydia was worse’, Derek’s voice shot over her laughter, making Stiles groan and shove his face under Derek’s arm.

‘Do tell’, Felicity breathed out.

‘She sat me down and talked for 30 minutes, nonstop, about 10 different ways she could kill me without the police figuring it out.’

Felicity blinked.

‘It was even more mortifying because the Sheriff was there too, giving her pointers and agreeing with her methods.’

‘Oh good god.’, Felicity started laughing again.

‘But’, Derek shrugged, ‘In the end she told me that she’s happy that we got our heads out of our asses, because, and I quote, if she had to go through another year of us pinning for each other, she would have cuffed us together and locked us in a closet.’

‘Would’ve been fun’, Stiles muttered, making Felicity yelp.

‘Too much info!’, she said, loudly.

‘Agreed’, Derek nodded, the tips of his years bright red.

‘So, basically, all your friends were okay with it’, Oliver summoned up, moving past the moment.

Stiles nodded. ‘Everybody. Except Scott’s dad.’

‘Ugh’, Felicity groaned. ‘He’s still in town?’

‘Yeah’, Stiles sighed. ‘He uh… He might have caught us making out in my jeep, at the entrance to the preserve’.

Felicity sighed. ‘Of course he did.’

‘And, you know how he still has a _thing_ against dad?’, Stiles continued. ‘He asked me if I turned gay because I lacked a strong male figure in my life.’

Oliver felt disgusted, and judging by Felicity’s face, so did she. But Stiles grinned, as Derek ran a hand over his face, tips of his ears turning red again.

‘I told him that I turned gay because I wanted a strong male figure in my ass.’

There was a pause.

‘Oh my god’, Felicity shrieked, turning her face into Oliver’s shoulder. ‘You’re the worst.’

‘I think I’m the best.’, Stiles grinned. ‘Melissa, she’s Scott’s mom’, he told Oliver, ‘the asshole’s ex wife, she told me I’m the best and baked me a chocolate cake for it.’

Oliver laughed. He couldn’t help it anymore, not when he was seeing Stiles grin like a maniac, his fingers intertwined with Derek’s over the table, not when Felicity was silently laughing, pressed tightly against his side.

‘So man, I gotta ask’, Stiles started once the food came, ‘how is it like having Felicity as a roommate?’

Oliver blinked. Felicity didn’t say anything, just barely spared him a look, continuing to munch on her burger.

‘I mean’, Stiles continued, ‘You’re used to living in a huge mansion with butlers and drivers and things. And now, you moved in with a babbling hurricane that is very particular about in what order she eats her breakfast and leaves her socks and dirty towels in front of the washing machine in the hallway.’

Oliver blinked. ‘Huh.’

He turned to Felicity. ‘I think we're spending too much time together.’

Her eyes grew wide and there was a flash of pain in her eyes, so he quickly continued.

‘I don’t even notice those things anymore.’, he smiled.

‘Yeah you do.’, she smiled back. ‘You’ve just gotten used to them.’

Felicity turned towards Stiles, then. ‘He doesn’t fold his clean socks, like, ever, and he’s even more anal about his food than I am.’

‘So you get along then’, Derek smirked.

‘Surprisingly so’, Felicity nodded.

Oliver frowned at that. ‘What does that mean?’

Felicity smiled innocently. ‘Nothing, Mr. Queen.’

‘Fe-li-ci-ty’, he gritted his teeth, making her sigh.

‘I might have thought you were gonna be helpless.’, she shrugged. ‘I mean, yeah, okay, you survived five years on that island, but since you came back, as Stiles said, you had maids and butlers and things. I was genuinely expecting to pick up your dirty clothes from all around the house.’

Oliver pouted. He knew he was doing it, but he couldn’t help it.

‘I vacuum every weekend, and dust when your allergies are acting up.’

‘I know, and-‘

‘And I wash the dishes every morning.’

‘Yes, and-‘

‘And I pick up your dirty socks and towels and put them in the washing machine.’

‘You proved me wrong, okay!’, Felicity laughed. ‘I’m glad you did, because I really didn’t want to throw my boss out of my house, you know.’

‘How does that work?’, Stiles interrupted them. ‘You’re clearly friends, but she’s also your EA. Isn’t that weird?’

‘No’, Oliver answered, instantly. ‘My driver’s also my best friend.’, he shrugged.

Stiles considered this. ‘I was being too metaphorical. Let me put it this way. I saw Felicity in tabloids a couple of times, portrayed as your flavor of the week. How do you deal with that?’

Oliver growled, startling both Stiles and Derek. Felicity snickered, thought, and patted his knee.

‘We deal with it by laughing our asses off when a new rumor reaches our ears. Last week I was pregnant and last month he had a kink for librarians.’

There was a pause.

‘That’s horrible’, Derek said.

‘And hilarious’, Stiles added.

‘Never a boring day at the office’, Felicity grinned.

•••

They spent the next day in a similar manner, but they went to the movies in the evening. Oliver honestly couldn’t remember the last time he was in a movie theater, but he was enjoying himself, watching an action flick with actors he didn’t know.

He kept commenting, whispering to Felicity about how bad the fighting scenes were. Stiles started doing it too, and Derek soon followed, so by the time they got out of the theater, Felicity was whining about testosterone levels and how she needed to do her nails to feel like a woman again.

Stiles painted them for her.

•••

On Saturday morning, Oliver woke up at half past nine, which was a small miracle. He felt rested, though, and he was pretty sure everybody else was still sleeping, so he decided to make breakfast.

He had to pass through the living room where Derek and Stiles were sleeping in order to get to the kitchen, but stopped when he was faced with Felicity.

She was still in her pajamas, looking over Stiles and Derek, who were still asleep, completely tangled together. Stiles was on his back, hugging Derek tightly, who was half draped over him, his nose pushed to Stiles’ collarbone, one of his hands resting on the back of Derek’s neck. They were both sleeping peacefully, feet tangled and comforter thrown off the bed.

They looked adorable, Oliver admitted to himself. He looked towards Felicity, who seemed completely frozen in place. She had a hand over her mouth, and her eyes were wide. They were filled with love and awe, but there was a sheen to them, and Oliver saw wistfulness in them too. It made his stomach turn.

So he gently kissed her cheek, letting his lips rest on her skin for long enough that Felicity closed her eyes and sighed deeply. He pushed away, then, but not far. He took her hand away from her mouth, and didn’t let her go, guiding them towards the kitchen.

They started making breakfast, but Oliver noticed that Felicity didn’t seem as energetic as usual. She was thinking, clearly, with a slight frown between her eyebrows, but she was still avidly cutting up the fruits.

Oliver didn’t say anything, he figured Felicity would talk if she needed to. He was right.

‘He’s very protective’, she whispered. ‘Derek.’

‘Yes he is.’, Oliver agreed. ‘He also looks at Stiles like he has all the answers.’

Felicity smiled. ‘It’s Stiles, he probably does.’

He couldn’t argue with that. ‘They seem happy’, Oliver said, softly. ‘And from what you told me, that’s a big thing.’

‘It is. The biggest.’, she shook her head. ‘I didn’t think I’d get to see Stiles like this again’, she whispered, lowering her voice even more. Oliver was having trouble hearing her, but he was already finished with the pancakes, so he shut off the stove and took a seat next to Felicity.

‘After all the horrible things he’s been through’, her voice broke, so Oliver quickly took a hold of Felicity’s hand, ‘he’s lost so many people. And I know that’s how it goes, I know that, but he watched his mother die when he was 8. And since he was 16, people keep dropping dead around him, around them. In horrible ways, their friends, people they knew, people they grew up with.’

She took a deep breath, wiping her tears away. ‘Stiles used to have panic attacks after his mom died. They started again, in highschool. And his ADD acted up, and he had insomnia and nightmares and all these things, I barely recognized him. He… He wasn’t Stiles anymore. But now… Yesterday, at the movies, talking nonstop and snuggled up to Derek, I…’

She couldn’t continue anymore, so Oliver let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Felicity quickly went with it, moving forward and resting her head on his shoulder, fisting her hands in the back of his t-shirt.

‘You’re crying because you’re happy.’, he said, as softly as he could. ‘You do realize that, right?’

She nodded.

‘Good’, Oliver smiled and kissed the crown of her head. ‘I’m not going to tell you to stop crying, but I will tell you that if Stiles sees you like this, he’ll probably assume it’s my fault and he’ll make Derek kick my ass.’

Felicity chuckled at that, and the next second, like clockwork, Stiles was stumbling into the kitchen.

He froze at the sight, but a second later, his face became murderous. ‘What happened?’, he growled, quickly moving to Felicity’s side.

‘Hormones’, she giggled.

Stiles froze, with a hand outstretched towards Felicity. He frowned, then turned towards Oliver, for a split second.

‘You’re cheating on me with Oliver?’, he shrieked. ‘I used to be the one who gave you period cuddles.’

‘Period cuddles’, Oliver whispered, a very big frown on his face.

Felicity patted his leg. ‘S’okay’, she smiled. ‘You’ll get used to it.’ Then, she turned towards Stiles. ‘I’m okay now. Sorry that we woke you.’

‘It’s fine’, Stiles smiled, sitting down in front of Felicity. ‘I’ll sleep back home, it’s not every day I get to hang out with my favorite blonde cousin.’

‘I’m your only blonde cousin.’, she glared.

Stiles didn’t answer, too busy putting a lot of sugar in his coffee.

‘Derek’s not up?’, Felicity asked him.

‘Derek’s been up for hours, he doesn’t sleep a lot.’

Felicity’s eyes grew wide and she quickly lowered her head. Oliver put a reassuring hand around her shoulder, just as Derek comes into the kitchen.

‘Good morning.’, he was smiling, so Oliver thought that he didn’t mind the little staring session Felicity had. ‘You’ve been crying’, he frowns at her, concerned.

‘I’m okay’, she smiled.

‘Women’, Stiles rolled his eyes, as an explanation.

‘Ah’, was all Derek said, but he smiled. ‘I hope you feel better soon.’

‘Nothing a batch of Oliver’s pancakes can't fix.’, she grinned, and Oliver grinned right back.

They took their time eating and getting ready for the day, and while Felicity and Stiles decided to go shopping, Oliver wanted to go to the gym (Felicity gave him the subscription, claiming that it would look good for the press). Derek joined him, much to his surprise and Stiles’ exasperation, but Oliver didn’t mind.

They trained for a couple of hours, in companionable silence, and Oliver was very impressed with Derek’s stamina. Yes, he figured out he was strong a while ago, he had the muscles to show it, but he also had absolutely no trouble with keeping up with Oliver.

As they went back to the apartment to shower and change, Derek surprised him.

‘You know, Stiles was prepared to hate you, when we came here.’

‘That’s understandable’, Oliver nodded.

‘You proved him wrong. And that’s a very big thing, considering it’s Stiles’, Derek told him, watching him with a scrutinizing look. ‘He’s always been a good judge of character, and so has Felicity, from what I hear.’

‘That she is’, Oliver agreed.

Derek looked away from him, then, and spoke somewhat hesitantly. ‘It’s not my place, and I don’t tend to interfere in other people’s business, but it’s clear that you care a lot about Felicity, and that she cares about you. And I know a few things about trauma, and how it changes you, and about holding back and being afraid.’

Oliver’s stomach rolled, and he tried his best to not show any signs of the nervousness he felt.

‘You should go for it, for her’, Derek finally said. ‘You’d be good for each other.’

Oliver didn’t’ say anything, but Derek wasn’t expecting something, because he turned around and headed for the shower.

•••

When they met with Felicity and Stiles, they were both carrying a lot of shopping bags, and Stiles had a very disbelieving look on his face.

‘Who pays 1000$ for a dress?’, he didn’t take his eyes off Felicity.

She rolled her eyes and looked to Oliver. ‘I found a dress for the gala next week.’

He sighed. ‘Which one is next week?’

‘Starling Association for Women Fighting Cancer’, Felicity rolled her eyes again. ‘The one at the History Museum, with a gold dress code.’

Oliver frowned. ‘You already had a gold dress.’

‘I burned it.’, Felicity deadpanned.

‘Whaaaat?’, Stiles shrieked.

‘Bad memories’, she shrugged.

‘You know what? I don’t wanna know’, Stiles shook his head and took a few steps, so that he was standing in front of Derek. ‘Hi’, he whispered, lovingly. Derek rolled his eyes, but kissed him nonetheless.

‘They’re sickening’, Felicity sighed.

‘They’re adorable’, Oliver smiled.

‘Am not’, Stiles mumbled, barely detaching himself from Derek. ‘We’re manly.’

‘Derek is’, Felicity agreed, around a smirk.

Stiles just waved his hand around her general direction, but kept kissing Derek.

•••

Stiles and Derek left after midnight.

Derek shook hands with Oliver, and got pulled into a tight hug by Felicity. He froze, at first, but relaxed after a while, sighing and putting a hand around her back. It seemed enough for Felicity.

Stiles hugged her for five solid minutes, running his hands through her pony tail, holding her up, because Felicity wrapped her feet around his waist. They spoke softly, whispering to each other, seemingly lost in their world.

The sight made Oliver’s heart beat faster, and Derek must have picked up on something, because he shot him a knowing look.

As Felicity was packing away food for the road, Stiles stared Oliver down, a murderous look in his eyes. Oliver really couldn’t understand how such an energetic and joyful man was able of so much hate, but he didn’t comment on it.

‘I wanted to tell you a lot of things’, Stiles said slowly. ‘Derek convinced me not to. But I am going to thank you for taking care of her.’

That surprised Oliver into silence, and it took a few moments before he managed to answer.

‘She’s the one taking care of me, most of the time.’

‘I know’, Stiles didn’t miss a beat. ‘That’s who she is. But you’re here when she needs you. And that’s important.’

Oliver sighed, but he smiled at Stiles. ‘I can’t let anything happen to Felicity.’

•••

The next time Stiles and Derek came to Starling City, they seemed to be even more in love than the last time.

And they did sleep in Felicity’s guest room. Because Oliver was sleeping in Felicity’s bedroom, in Felicity’s bed, in Felicity’s arms.  


	34. Felicity vs. Oliver's scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Felicity cries because of Oliver's scars, at the lair, thinking about all the pain that he must have felt. (It's actually something I've dreamed of!) ___

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that goddamn bite bugs me so much.

She wasn’t fazed by them, by Oliver’s scars. Not anymore.

Years have passed since Felicity first saw them, and not even then did they shock her. They might have, but Oliver was bleeding out on a metal table in front of her, and a stranger was telling her to be calm, so Felicity didn’t really have the time to think about the scars then.

That night, she spent hours thinking about them, about how he got them, about how much they hurt. But then, things happened, a lot of things, a constant flood of things, and Felicity really couldn’t be bothered to think about Oliver’s scars.

But Felicity spent a lot of time looking at them. How could she not?, in the Foundry he spent a lot of time shirtless, and she lost count of how many times she had to patch him up. She didn’t see them as scars, anymore. She just saw them as a part of Oliver.

You couldn’t have one without the other.

Felicity knew every scar. The placement, the shape, how the rough skin felt under her fingertips. She knew how he got some of them, from the rare moments Oliver talked about the island. She assumed how some of them happened, because she could recognize an animal bite or a branding iron burn. She knew exactly how he got some of them, because she was there for it, Moira’s bullet, the Count’s, Merlyn’s arrow and so on.

She never got to the point of thinking about what a scar meant. Something always came up, and Felicity never really got to think about the pain that was behind it, the torture and the physical pain.

It was always in the back of her mind, when the island came up, she always thought about Oliver’s pain and suffering. But it was in the general sense.

She didn’t think about what every scar meant, the pain behind it. About how much it must have hurt when Oliver was stabbed for the first time, when the first bullet pierced his body. How much the first arrow hurt, and must have shocked him. He told her that story, about Yao Fei shooting him after he buried his father, about how Shado’s father took care of him, forced him to take his first life, even if it was the one of an animal. That scar is important, Felicity always thought. Maybe even the most important one.

How many times did Oliver think he wasn’t going to survive an injury? How many times did he consider one of the scars as heaven sent, because they meant that he was still alive? Does he remember the faces of everyone? Does he dream about them, the people hurting him, branding his body, cutting it and scaring it? Does he still feel the pain?

Does he still feel the arrowheads, the bullets, the knives, the teeth? Does he remember his screams? Did he scream? Did anybody hear him?

Are the ones who did them still alive? Did they all die by his hands?

Felicity knows that the people in his life have been affected by the scars, when he came back. Oliver told her about Thea’s reaction, and about Laurel’s. She felt very angry, in that moment, because Oliver shouldn’t have gone through that. Getting the scars was more than enough, why did he have to suffer from them after they’ve healed, too?

Do people care, anymore? He’s been back for years, do the people around him still think about the scars? Are they still curious about how he got them, as they were at the beginning? Did anybody else think about the pain they caused him?

What did the women in his life think? Really think, when they had him in their bed and saw all of him. Were they curious, or were they apprehensive? Did they run their fingers over them, their lips and tongues? Or did they try not to touch them? Did they ask? Did he answer?

‘Felicity’, Oliver’s voice startles her. They’re in the Foundry, and he has been doing yoga, on the mats in front of her computers. She was working at connecting some devices, she vaguely recalls, and she’s still holding onto a set of cables.

She doesn’t know how much time she spent looking at him, lost in her thoughts, but she felt tears pricking at her eyes.

‘I don’t usually mind a beautiful woman looking at me’, he smiled, getting up from the mats and grabbing a bottle of water, making his way towards her. ‘But you have been staring for the past 20 minutes.’

Felicity shook her head and opened her mouth to apologize, but that’s not what came out of her mouth.

‘Does somebody know? Except you, does anybody else in this world know everything that happened to you?’

That made Oliver freeze. For a couple of seconds, his whole body was tense and he was looking at her, with wide eyes, forgotten bottle of water half way to his mouth.

Felicity shed a tear against her will, quickly wiping it away. That’s what made Oliver move again, blinking and stepping close to her. He didn’t stop until he was close enough to touch, and he didn’t say anything while he plucked the cables out of Felicity’s hands, gently putting them on the desk.

She couldn’t look up at him. Her eyes roamed over his chest, shoulders and arms, slowly moving down to his torso.

‘Felicity’, he said her name so softly, grabbing her upper arms. ‘Did something happen?’

She shook her head, finally looking up into his eyes.

‘No, I just… I don’t have time, usually, you know? I don’t get time to think about your scars.’

He blinks, and raises his eyebrows in surprise. Felicity swallows and brings her right hand up, her fingers gently moving over the scar Oliver had from his mother’s bullet, from the moment he told her the truth.

‘I don’t have time to think, about who or what gave them to you, about how much it must have hurt. About how much time your skin needed to heal, about’, Felicity whispered, ‘the trauma’, she pushed her fingers against the scar, ‘the physical trauma your body had to push through.’

Oliver’s grip on her arms tightened.

‘And the emotional pain’, Felicity went on. ‘The things those people did to your body and to your heart. How…’, she couldn’t continue. She blinked faster, trying to stop the tears, and she looked down at her hand, at her fingers that were resting over Oliver’s scar.

‘I don’t understand what brought this on, Felicity’, he whispered softly, so soft.

‘Me neither’, she admitted. ‘It’s unfair. So unfair.’

He moved then. Brought his arms around her shoulders, and pulled her into his arms. Felicity went, willingly, not caring that he was still shirtless and that there was a layer of sweat on his chest from his workout. She just pushed her cheek into his shoulder, struggled a bit to get her hands around his waist and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down her cries.

‘Nobody knows’, Oliver whispered into her hair. ‘Just me.’

She sniffled and tightened her hold on his waist.

‘I don’t care’, he continued. ‘About the scars. I don’t care anymore, about how they look.’

‘And you shouldn’t’, she was quick to agree. ‘But-‘

‘And I don’t care’, he interrupted, speaking slowly, ‘about how I got them either. I will never forget, and those events will always be with me, because they have changed me. But I don’t care anymore.’

Felicity didn’t say anything, trying to wrap her head around it. One of her hands was on his lower back, and her fingers were tracing over the bite mark there. But that was okay, because Oliver’s fingers were tracing over the small scar Felicity had on her shoulder, from the Clock King.

‘Do you?’, he asked a bit more strongly, tightening his hold on her. ‘Do you care about them?’

‘Yes’, Felicity didn’t hesitate in answering. Oliver stopped breathing.

‘Yes, I care about them, because they’re distinctive’, she continued softly. ‘You can’t have Oliver without his scars, and as you said, they changed you. They made you the man you are today, so they’re important.’

She was babbling, Felicity vaguely realized. Eyes closed tight, cheek still flush against Oliver’s shoulder. She was talking fast and Oliver was breathing slowly.

‘They’re important, they mean something. I don’t know what they all mean, but I know what some of them mean and you shouldn’t…’, she took a deep breath. ‘You shouldn’t keep it to yourself, not anymore.’

‘You don’t want to know everything’, Oliver said slowly, after he pushed her back a little so that he could look at her.

‘Yes I do’, Felicity chuckled bitterly. ‘I’ll always want to know everything about you, but it’s okay, that you don’t understand that.’

She smiled then, shaking her head, willing the thoughts away from her mind.

‘But when you _get it_ , I’d really like for you to start with this particular scar’. Felicity pressed her hand flat on his hip, over the bite mark. Oliver shivered, visibly, making her heart beat skip, but she smiled up at him.

‘Because, honestly’, she tilted her head, ‘I don’t know what animal is responsible for it, was it a bear? Was it a shark? Mountain lion?’

There was an amused glint in his eyes.

‘Either way, I’m imagining quite the fight scene.’

Oliver sighed, but there was a small upturn on his lips. ‘It was a werewolf’, he said, very serious, making Felicity pause.

She shook her head after a few seconds, and laughed, detaching herself from him.

‘That’s silly. If you were bitten by a werewolf, that would mean you’re a werewolf now and most lore indicates that wolves have super healing powers, so the scar wouldn’t be there anymore. Plus, I’ve been with you on the full moon, and you haven’t turned furry.’

Oliver was full on smiling by the time she was finished, but he didn’t say anything, just kissed her forehead and headed for the shower.


	35. Contingency plans needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [hiddenpiecesofmybrokenheart](http://hiddenpiecesofmybrokenheart.tumblr.com) asked: _Felicity’s alarm system goes off and Oliver rushes over. Turns out its a one night stand. Humor and angst ensue._

Luckily enough, Oliver was still in the Foundry that night. He was alone, because everybody else had the evening off, but he didn’t even think to call for backup when the alarm went off.

The alarm to Felicity’s apartment, that was programmed to send a message to the computers in the Foundry, and to Oliver’s phone. He didn’t think twice, he just put on the suit, grabbed his bow and quiver, and rushed to Felicity’s apartment.

Oliver went up the fire escape that led straight to her bedroom, because a light was on there. Not the ceiling one, but the small lamp she had on her night stand. The window was open, even though he told Felicity time and time again to keep it closed at night, so he quickly went it, landing on the carpet with a soft thud.

He raised his bow, with an arrow already pointed at the people in the room. Oliver wasn’t expecting to hear a man scream, in complete and utter fear. Nor did he expect to see Felicity, in the man’s arms, only wearing a pair of black panties.

Oliver was frozen in place. He felt a pang on jealousy like never before, but he knew he wasn’t allowed. There was nothing romantic going on between Felicity and he, so he blinked and shut his feelings down, ignored them as best as he could. But he was very angry, irrationally so. He tried to ignore it. He still couldn’t seem to move, though.

Not when Felicity turned around, after the man kept pointing a finger at Oliver. He was shirtless, Oliver vaguely remarked. And his pants were half undone. But Felicity was naked, almost. The black panties were made of lace. And she turned around, and Oliver’s eyes went straight to her breasts because they were _right there_. He still couldn’t move, so he still had an arrow trained at her chest.

‘What are you doing here?’, Felicity shrieked, holding her fists in front of her chest, in a ready-to-attack position that Roy taught her.

Oliver finally managed to take his eyes away from her body, and he looked up at her face. ‘Your alarm went off.’

They just stared at each other for a couple of seconds, in disbelief and shock, until Oliver managed to whisper.

‘You’re naked’.

Felicity yelped, again, jumping up and bringing her hands over her chest, covering her breasts as best as she could.

The man behind her, who still had a very frightened look on his face, took a step to the left, slowly, very slowly, picking up a t-shirt that was thrown on the back of a chair, handing it to Felicity.

She turned her back to Oliver, again, quickly putting it on. It was one of his shirts, he starting leaving it here, because some nights, he would spend the night at Felicity’s. Watching movies with her till dawn, making strategies for QC, talking about their mission on the week, sleeping on her couch and making her breakfast in the morning.

He sucked in a quick breath when she turned around, because there was anger on her face.

‘Lower your bow’, she demanded. Oliver complied, quickly, putting the arrow back in the quiver. The whole room was filled with the sound of the man letting out a relieved sigh, but they both ignored it.

‘I shut off the alarm after 10 seconds’, Felicity said, slowly.

‘I thought I’d check’.

‘You couldn’t call before?’, she raised an eyebrow.

‘Haven’t’ thought of that’, Oliver hissed, suddenly not being able to control his anger anymore.

Felicity groaned, raising her hands in annoyance. ‘Of course you haven’t.’

Oliver didn’t say anything, just gave her a pointed look. He didn’t need to say what he was thinking, because Felicity picked up on it either way.

‘Thank you for coming, but as you can see, there was no need. I’ll shut the window after you leave.’

Oliver nodded, but his eyes skipped to the man that was still behind Felicity. He was blonde, with short spiked hair and bright green eyes. He had a strong jawline and his body was defined, muscles on his arms and chest. There was a tattoo of a wolf on his ribs, and a piercing in one of his nipples. Oliver looked back to Felicity, and raised an eyebrow.

She quickly shook her head and told him to leave, louder than necessary.

He did, but the second he heard the window close behind him, his heart skipped a beat. And another, and then another, because it all felt very wrong to him. Seeing Felicity in someone else’s arms, with her hair messy and her lips swollen, with marks from his nails on her back, her faced flushed and bite marks on her chest…

That wasn’t the problem, that he saw Felicity in another man’s arms. No, the problem was that she wasn’t in Oliver’s arms.

He knew he cared about her, that wasn’t something new. He also knew he found her attractive, she appeared in his fantasies more often than not. He hasn’t felt any attraction to any other woman in a long time. Not like this, not like he felt for Felicity.

But he knew it couldn’t happen. He wasn’t allowed to be jealous, he didn’t have any right to judge her for who she slept with, he didn’t get a say in her relationships, because Oliver didn’t deserve Felicity Smoak. He had to keep her safe and she deserved to be happy.

So Oliver took a deep breath and went home.

↕

Come morning, they were all at the Foundry, even if it was a Sunday. When Oliver arrived, later than usual, but with coffee and donuts, Felicity was working on the computers, and Diggle and Roy were training.

He thought they wouldn’t talk about it. He thought Felicity wouldn’t say anything. He was wrong.

She turned around in her chair as he went over to a table near hers, to put down the to-go bags. She was dressed casually, a pair of black jeans, flats and a simple shirt, but Oliver could barely see it, all he saw in front of his eyes were her naked curves and the black of the lace in contrast with her pale skin. So he didn’t really look at her. Until she spoke.

‘I think we should discuss boundaries. Or at least contingency plans.’

Oliver looked up, accidentally catching Digg’s eyes, and he must have seen something, because John stopped fighting Roy, and made his way towards Felicity with a very deep frown on his face. He didn’t say anything, but she responded anyway.

‘Like what we do in case my home alarm goes off. Or either of our home alarms, actually.’

‘Did something happen?’, Oliver could hear the concern in Diggle’s tone.

‘My home alarm went off.’, Felicity deadpanned.

Oliver took a deep breath and turned around, finally facing her. He tried his best to not show any emotion on his face, but his fists were clenched by his side.

‘And Oliver came to my rescue, through the window, with an arrow notched in his bow.’ She was still annoyed, but it lacked the anger it had ysterday, for which Oliver was thankful. 

‘And?’, it was Roy who asked.

‘And I had someone over’, she said, forcefully, even though she was blushing.

‘And?’, Roy asked, slower this time.

‘And we weren’t exactly clothed at the moment.’, Felicity hissed out, bright blush going under her shirt.

There was a pause. Then Diggle turned towards Oliver and started laughing. Roy soon followed.

‘Since when do you have a boyfriend?’, Roy asked, being the first who managed to catch his breath.

‘I don’t’, Felicity sighed. ‘And if the Arrow makes an appearance in my bedroom every time I wanna have at it, I don’t think I’ll ever get a boyfriend ever again.’

There was a pause again.

‘So you had a one night stand’, Roy said, slowly, ‘and Oliver crashed it, in full Arrow suit.’

‘Wrong’, she growled, spinning her chair around, facing her computers again. ‘There was no one night stand, considering the guy ran away screaming.’

Roy started laughing again. But he went over and hugged Felicity briefly, kissing the top of her head.

‘So’, Oliver made his way towards her, managing to look at her eyes, not her cleavage, ‘I should call before I come over next time?’

‘Yes’, she looked up at him. ‘Honestly, I don’t handle air conditioning too well, so I’m usually half naked in the summer. Sometimes worse than that.’

Oliver stopped breathing, and Felicity must have picked up on it, because she smirked.

‘So unless you _want_ to find me half naked, then yes, please call before.’

↕

It took Oliver a long time, one year more after that, until he finally realized that Felicity’s waiting for him. Yes, she dated other men, but she never let it get serious. And he always felt jealous.

But she was always there for him, by his side, no matter if Oliver Queen needed her, or the Arrow.

So when he finally found the courage to try and be with her, it was summer again.

Oliver waited till night fall, till he saw the living room light go off, and a faith blue light coming from Felicity’s bedroom, meaning that she was working on her laptop.

He went through the window, closing his eyes and whistling  _Singing in the rain_ , which has been his ringtone for her in the past months. He didn’t open his eyes, but when he was inside the room, steady on his feet, he whistled louder and extended his hands, holding a big bouquet of pink roses.

Oliver opened his eyes when he felt Felicity taking the flowers from his hands. She made her way towards the closest chair, putting the bouquet on them. She was wearing just a pair of his boxers, and Oliver’s mind was working overload to figure out when she stole them, and a sports bra.

But Felicity was grinning, and she didn’t stop grinning, not even when she was kissing Oliver breathlessly.

↕

Felicity’s alarm went off that night. She hurried to stop it and to text Roy and Diggle before they made their way to her apartment.

But her movements were pretty frantic, because Oliver was carrying her, hands on her ass and lips on her chest.

So she ended up texting them a simple NO PROBLEM SRY and, accidentally, a slightly erotic picture of her and Oliver’s legs, tangled together between her sheets, his tanned fingers digging into her pale thighs.

They never heard the end of it.


	36. When Tommy died

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [felicityfan](http://felicityfan.tumblr.com) asked: _Felicity and Tommy are besties. No Island. Oliver is Tommy's best friend as well. Tommy dies. Felicity escapes to the bathroom tub to be alone at the wake. Oliver comes in with a caterer for a quickie. When said caterer leaves - Felicity reveals herself and Oliver turns over a new leaf ... you know... this is the plot of Catch and Release, which I loved!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have not seen that movie. Oops? Careful, angst ahead.

It’s always been the three of them. For years, almost a decade, Felicity, Oliver and Tommy were a whole. Sure, Felicity was closest to Tommy, and sure, Tommy was closest to Oliver, and maybe Oliver and Felicity didn’t spend a lot of time together on their own, but their friendship was real. It was strong, and pure.

They stood by each other’s side through everything, from drunken nights to midterms, from Felicity’s father leaving, to Oliver’s father’s death. She was there the morning after the boys’ one night stands, she was there where Oliver’s flavor of the week thought she was pregnant. She was there when Tommy’s father cut him off, and she was there when Oliver and Tommy opened a club.

They were there when Felicity was forced to commit her mother into a psych ward. They were there when her boyfriend for the past 5 years broke up with her. They were there when she started working for Oliver’s family’s company, they were there when she was quickly promoted because she was good, not because she was a friend.

They were there for everything.

And now, Tommy was gone. A drunk driver, they said, he went peacefully, they told her, it was quick.

She didn’t cry at the funeral. With Oliver by her side, she held onto his hand for dear life. He cried, and Thea cried, and their mother cried. Tommy’s father didn’t cry.

Felicity managed to breathe through an hour of the wake, in the Queen mansion. Everybody was telling her how sorry they were, how great of a man he was, how he was loved and that he’ll be missed. She knew this, she didn’t need to hear it over and over again.

She was so tired.

There were pictures of Tommy everywhere. But he wasn’t here, he wasn’t going to be here, never again. He won’t hold her hand while walking down the street, he won’t bring her icecream when she’s sad, he won’t cuddle with her when she can’t stand up because of cramps. He won’t hold her anymore, he won’t call her ‘Smokey’, he won’t buy her superhero t-shirts for her birthday. He won’t call in the middle of the night just to hear her voice, he won’t fall asleep on her couch after a long night, he won’t, he won’t he won’t.

Felicity rushed upstairs. She headed to Oliver’s room, it was the only place in this mansion she felt comfortable in. But after walking in, her heart froze, again, memories of Tommy rushing in.

So she went to the bathroom, turned on the light, and shut the door behind her. She took off her heals and got into the ridiculously big tub Oliver had. And she cried.

She cried, and cried, and cried, until she heard the door to Oliver’s room open with a bang. Then, she heard giggling. Then, she heard moans.

It didn’t take long for Felicity to figure out that Oliver was screwing Isabel Rochev, his favorite fuck buddy.

She felt sick. But she couldn’t move.

So she stayed there. Crying, in the bathroom, hands on her ears to cancel out the noise, their noises. She tried to stay silent, she hated herself for not being able to move, to get out of there. She hated Oliver, for doing this now, at Tommy’s wake, with a woman Tommy despised. She hated Tommy, for leaving her, she hated God, for taking him.

She hated the world, because it didn’t have Tommy in it anymore.

Felicity doesn’t know how long she stayed there. It didn’t seem like long before she heard Isabel saying goodbye. Oliver didn’t answer and the next thing she heard was the door shutting with a loud bang.

She still couldn’t move.

When Oliver came into the bathroom, a couple of minutes later, he was in his boxers. There were tears on his face, and his mouth dropped when he saw Felicity.

She cried even harder, then.

She managed to move, so she got out of the bathtub.

‘How could you?’, she yelled, making her way towards him. ‘Now? Here? What is wrong with you?’

Oliver didn’t say anything, so she slapped him. Hard enough for her ring to leave a mark on his cheek. He still didn’t say anything.

‘This is how you honor his memory? By screwing that stupid whore at his wake?’

Oliver’s bottom lip trembled and a couple of tears fell down his cheek.

Felicity slapped him again. His head turned to the side with the power behind it, and he slowly lifted his hand to his cheek. A sob escaped his lips, then, and it broke Felicity’s heart.

She couldn’t stand it. Oliver was the strong one, he was always the rock, their rock. She understood, on an intellectual level, that he was hurting too, that he lost his best friend too, that his brother was gone. But she needed Oliver to be strong, she needed him to be okay, if he couldn’t cope with this, than how could she?

Felicity left. She picked up her shoes, but didn’t bother putting them on, and ran out of the room. Oliver didn’t follow.

Once she reached the foyer, she was stopped by Moira, strongly grabbing her upper arm. The woman took one look at her, and wrapped her arms around Felicity. She didn’t protest, just let her head fall against the woman’s shoulder.

‘Do you want to go home?’, the woman asked softly. ‘Let me get one of the drivers.’

Felicity blinked and detached herself from her hold.

‘I…’, she swallowed and wiped her face. ‘I think I’m gonna stay in Oliver’s room.’

Moira seemed surprised by this, and Felicity understood it, they almost never spent time alone. Even though they cared about each other, Tommy was always there to act as a buffer between them, stopping their bantering matches before they got too far. But Tommy was gone.

Tommy, who figured out that Felicity’s feelings for Oliver weren’t that platonic. Tommy, who seemed to think Oliver felt the same. Tommy, who always made sure they spent time together, and every time he was there, he tried to keep as silent as possible.

‘Alright’, was all Moira said, giving her hand a tight squeeze before moving away.

When she got to his room, Oliver was sitting, still in his boxers, on the edge of his bed. His nails were digging into his thighs and he was crying, sobbing, hiccuping every now and then.

Felicity didn’t say anything, she just walked over to his dresser. She turned her back to him, took of her dress and her bra, putting on one of Oliver’s t-shirt. It was soft and big on her, covering her thighs.

She got into bed, under the covers, prying Oliver’s hands away from his thighs. She pushed him down on the bed, and he let her, his hands coming up around her when she hugged him. Felicity laid her head on his shoulder, holding him tightly at the waist. One of his hands found the back of neck, fisting into her hair.

‘What are you doing?’, he whispered, his eyes closed.

‘I need you’, Felicity answered just as low, wiping his tears away.

‘I need Tommy.’ His voice cracked, and Felicity’s heart broke, because she never saw him like this, not even when his father died, not even when Thea spent a week in a coma.

‘You were always the strong one’, she whispered, kissing his chest. ‘I need you to be strong, because if you can’t survive this, than I can’t either.’

Oliver didn’t respond, but he held her tighter, and they cried. Together, in silence.

>< 

She stayed there for two weeks. Rarely getting out of bed, taking comfort in Oliver’s presence, as much as he took comfort in hers. Felicity started wearing his boxers, and using his body wash. Wearing his mismatched socks and using his hand cream.

There was always food in the room, and warm coffee and tea, the staff already knowing what she liked. Nobody said anything to them, and she was grateful. On the odd moments when Thea or Moira convinced them to come down for dinner, she put on Oliver’s sweatpants and tied her hair up with pencils.

Oliver touched her during those dinners, a lot. They hardly ever moved away from each other when they were in his room, but he continued that in public too. He didn’t seem to care about the odd looks his family was giving them, when he took her hand on top of the table, or when he played with her hair.

They spent the days sleeping at odd hours, taking turns showering and crying into each other’s arms, every now and then. At some point, they started talking. Whispering, memories of Tommy, that they shared or stories that the other one didn’t know. It made Felicity’s heart feel a bit lighter, knowing that they both had such good memories of their friend.

Isabel Rochev called at some point. Felicity didn’t say anything, just watched as Oliver stared at his phone for several loud moments. When he answered, there was rage in his eyes. ‘I have nothing more to say to you.’, he growled. ‘If you see me on the street, walk the other way.’ Felicity still didn’t say anything, but he held him when Oliver collapsed next to her, on the bed.

After two weeks, Walter came in one evening. He seemed surprised to see Felicity sitting with her back against the headboard, Oliver’s head in her lap, while they both watched crappy reality TV that Tommy used to make them watch. But he didn’t comment on it.

He sat next to them on the bed, already dressed in his pajamas, and put a comforting hand over Felicity’s, telling her that she was expected to go back to work the next day, but that he will gladly give her all the time she needs.

Felicity shook her head and grabbed Oliver’s hand. ‘I’m going.’, she said, her voice strong. ‘I have to work, and Oliver needs to go back to the club. It’s what he would’ve wanted.’

Oliver muttered a weak ‘okay’, and Walter smiled, big and loving, before leaving them alone.

They didn’t sleep that night. The tv played infomercials all night, humming softly in the background. They didn’t talk, but Oliver held her close all night, and she held him right back. She wasn’t good, they weren’t good. But they were better.

Felicity left early in the morning, wearing Oliver’s clothes, because she couldn’t bear the thought of putting on back the dress she wore at his funeral.

Oliver walked her to the front door, where a driver was waiting to take her home to change, and to work afterwards.

‘Tommy always used to say’, Oliver’s voice still cracked when he said his name, ‘that you were it for me.’

He wasn’t looking at her, he was looking down, to where her hands were playing with the string of the sweatpants she was wearing.

‘He thought’, Oliver continued in an even softer voice, ‘that I will never find a woman I could love more than I could love you.’

Felicity nodded, because she knew this. Tommy told her, every chance he got. She smiled at Oliver, for the first time since she got in his bed, and she pushed up on her toes so she could kiss him. Soft and chaste, a quick press of lips, that seemed to surprise him.

‘We’ll figure it out’, was all Felicity said before she left.

>< 

Oliver picked her up from work that evening, much to Walter’s surprised, who was set on driving her home. He smiled, though, when Oliver informed them that he was going to take Felicity to the cemetery, then to the cinema, because that movie Tommy was excited for came out, and for a late dinner.

Over the next months, Felicity and Oliver got to know each other better. They learned how to function without Tommy in their lives and by their side. It was hard, and some nights were harder than the rest, but she was there when he needed her, and he was there when she needed him.

They spent most nights together, either at her apartment or at the mansion. They slept as close as they could, under the covers, limbs tangling and breaths mingling. They kissed, a lot, for hours on end. They kissed till they fell asleep, till Felicity’s lips were swollen, till there was sweat on his forehead.

They didn’t have sex for a long time. Felicity didn’t need it, she didn’t feel ready for it, and Oliver seemed to agree. He didn’t have sex with anybody else either, which surprised Felicity and his family both.

Thea asked him once, while Felicity was there, and he just shrugged, smiling at his sister. Then he grabbed Felicity’s hand and told them that Tommy would’ve wanted him to change, so he did. None of them had an answer to that, but Felicity made sure to reward him with a kiss later.

When they did finally have sex, it was 8 month after Tommy’s death. They were on a long weekend vacation, they did that a lot, pack a bag and get into a car, drive somewhere, anywhere, just to get away from the city and their responsibilities for a while.

This time, they were at one of the Queen's cabins, somewhere in the woods. They got there late at night, and went straight to bed. When Felicity woke up, she was on her back, her t-shirt had ridden off, and one of Oliver’s hands was resting right on the center of her underwear, the warmth sending a shiver down her spine. He was still sleeping, nose pressed into Felicity’s collarbone, his morning wood pushing into her thigh.

And she just couldn’t hold it back anymore.

So Felicity woke him up by kissing him, softly at first, but growing stronger when she pushed her hand down Oliver’s boxers. He seemed surprised, but he quickly melted under her touch, moaning into her mouth.

So she didn’t stop. And he didn’t stop. And they lost themselves in each other, and Felicity felt the best she felt in the past 8 months.

Afterwards, they spent some time in the Jacuzzi that was installed on the terrace of the cabin. They didn’t bother with putting on swimsuits, because there wasn’t anybody around for miles.

‘He would be proud of us’, Felicity told him softly, distracting him from where he was tracing his lips over her back.

Oliver snorted. ‘He would’ve thrown a party, would have made a _congratulations on the sex_ banner.’

‘You would’ve loved it’, Felicity giggled.

‘You would’ve blushed’, he shot back.

‘I don’t blush that easily’, she glared. But he proved her wrong, his fingers moving quickly under the water.

>< 

It took a few more years, but they did get married. Oliver didn’t have a best man, and there was always an empty place to his right. But Felicity was happy, they were happy. Surprisingly enough.

Not Tommy, though. They both knew he wouldn’t be surprised. At all.


	37. We're pregnant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [iloveyourintimate](http://iloveyourintimate.tumblr.com/) asked: _I still can't forget your prompt where[Oliver was dreaming about pregnant Felicity](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1414105/chapters/3361556), so I was wondering maybe you could write a sequel to this prompt? Or anything with pregnant!Felicity._
> 
> (Not a sequel, but) The one where Felicity is pregnant, and she’s freaking out.

Felicity didn’t even realize it was a possibility. They always used condoms, they barely were together for one year, they didn’t even discuss the possibility of children. And it’s not the first time her period was late. Her timing was always hectic, ever since highschool. She made a point in regularly going for check-ups, and her doctor always said that she was okay, that it wasn’t so odd, that it’s just the way her body worked.

So when he sat down at his desk, smiled and congratulated her, Felicity’s shock levels were through the roof.

‘Excuse me?’, she managed to say after a very long and awkward pause.

‘You’re pregnant’, the doctor repeated.

Felicity facepalmed. And groaned, surprising even herself. But then she carefully listened to everything the doctor had to say, the details and the indications.

She barely remembered driving home.

α

Thankfully, Oliver wasn’t sleeping over that night. _Thank god for small miracles_ , she thought. Because she honestly didn’t think she could handle him right then.

She was freaking out. Massively.

They weren’t ready for a baby!? Were they? Of course not. They were in love, sure, had been for a lot longer than they had dated, but a baby? No.

They spent their days working long hours at the office, Oliver was running a multi-million dollar international company, and she was his EA. They spent their nights working long hours in a secret underground lair, he shot arrow into bad people, and she hacked into government data bases daily.

A baby? No.

Did they even want babies? She did, but not now. Now was not a good time. Did Oliver? She had no idea, they never talked about it.

Felicity was pretty confident, than Oliver and her had a forever kind of deal. It was weird, being so certain after only one year, but it was more than that. Everybody knew it was more than that.

But a baby? Felicity had no idea.

Was she going to tell him? How? When? How? _Oh god_. Felicity had no idea.

α

It went on for three days. She didn’t say a word to Oliver, or to anybody, for that matter. He didn’t suspect a thing, but she didn’t sleep a lot. She spent the nights in his arms, thinking and freaking out some more. Worrying, over thinking everything.

Felicity was a mess. She couldn’t come to a decision and she felt utterly lost.

It all escalated on the fourth day. It was a Saturday.

They were in the Foundry. She spent all the day and half the night there, chasing their target of the month. Finally, she got a lead, and finally, Oliver, Digg and Roy went after him and handed him to the police.

It was close to 5 am when they came back to the Foundry, but they were all too keyed up to actually sleep, so Roy went out and picked up Chinese food. It wasn’t the first time they were eating at one of the metal tables, and Felicity acted like a regular mother hen, as Diggle liked to joke, as she put on the table cloth she brought a few months ago, and the nondescript glasses and plates.

Everything went to Hell when Roy asked her how much wine she wanted.

‘No’, Felicity said, more forcefully than she should have. ‘I can’t drink.’

‘Why not?’, Roy raised an eyebrow.

‘I… uh…’, she stammered, eyes wide and she didn’t even realize it, but she was edging away from the table. ‘I’m on pills!’, the idea finally came to her. ‘Yeah, I have to take some pills and I can’t mix them with alcohol.’

‘What pills?’, Oliver frowned, so concerned that it broke her heart for lying. He put a hand on her back, steadying her, since she was in danger of falling off her chair.

‘Hormones’, she quickly said. ‘I mean, uh, they’re for my hormones. I mean, for when I get hormonal.’

Oliver just blinked. ‘You want to explain that again, please?’. There was a hint of amusement in his tone, and that was good, that put her a little at ease.

‘Lady stuff’, Felicity smiled, blushing all over and not looking anywhere near Digg and Roy. ‘Period stuff, pain stuff.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver frowned, grabbing a hold of her hand. ‘I’ve been with you in the past 24 hours. You didn’t take a pill.’

‘I-‘, she took a deep breath.

‘You’re lying’, he frowned, hurt, so hurt, it broke her heart. ‘Why are you lying?’

‘I… We…’, she couldn’t think. Her heart was beating so fast, her palms were sweating and she couldn’t look away from the hurt on Oliver’s face, the pain she inflicted on him, and that was what tipped her off.

‘You’re pregnant’, Felicity said, breathlessly, then winced and closed her eyes. ‘I mean I’m pregnant, we’re pregnant. It’s yours, obviously, is what I mean.’

 _Fuck_ , she though. _I fucked this up, I fucked us up._

She took her hand away from his hold, standing up and taking a step back. She felt tears starting to gather in her eyes and she just wanted to get away.

‘A baby’, Oliver’s voice reached her ears, and it was his soft tone that made her turn around to face him. He was looking at her with wide eyes, his jaw dropped, but there was hope in his expression. And disbelief, and awe and it made her knees go week.

‘We’re having a baby’, he said more forcefully, reaching a hand to her.

She took it instinctually, but looked down at him with a level of desperation she hasn't felt in a long time.

‘Are we?’, she asked, talking quickly. ‘Are we having a baby? Do we want to have a baby? Can we? You shoot arrows in people and I hack the FBI. You’re the CEO and I’m your EA.’

‘A baby’, Oliver whispered again, incredulously. He wasn’t helping.

Felicity ignored him, talking again, as quick as before.

‘We’ve only been together for a year. And while I know we had something long before that, it won’t look good to the press. And, and, and… You shoot arrows into people!’, she screamed, even if she didn’t plan on it.

Oliver didn’t say anything, he was just holding her hand tight, looking up at her. It was like he still couldn’t believe it. There were tears in his eyes and his bottom lip was trembling.

 _Damn it_ , Felicity thought. _I wasn’t supposed to be the one to hurt you._

‘I’m 5 weeks in’, she whispered. ‘It’s not too late to… to…’, she couldn’t finish. _Damn it._

Oliver was up from his chair instantly, letting go of her hand and grabbing her shoulders, forcefully.

‘Do you want that?’, he asked, showing a lot more strength that she had right now.

Felicity managed to shake her head. ‘I don’t know. Can we do this? It’s a baby.’

‘Our baby’, Oliver nodded.

Then, he smiled, so wide and open, so loving and caring that she felt her knees go weak again.

‘This baby’s gonna be the most safe baby in Starling’, Roy’s voice startled Felicity. She forgot they weren’t alone.

‘And the most spoiled’, Digge added, amused.

‘We’re having a baby’, Oliver laughed, breathlessly.

‘Okay’, was all Felicity managed to say.

Oliver kissed her then, once, twice, three times, bringing his hands around her shoulders. He held her tight, and she responded as best as she could. She was crying, and she was scared of what came next, but she was happy, so happy. In Oliver’s arms, with his baby growing in her belly.

‘We should get married’, he said, kissing the top of her head. ‘And find a bigger apartment. And-‘

She laughed. For a long time, through her tears and still in his arms.

At one point, Roy playfully pushed Oliver away, who went straight into Digg’s arms, who hugged him strongly, congratulating him all the while. Meanwhile, Roy hugged her, very carefully, making her chuckle. He used the sleeve of his Henley to wipe her tears away, but he didn’t stop smiling all the while.

Then, she was in Digg’s arms. Who lifted her off the ground and spun her around twice, already talking about play dates with his child. Felicity just held onto him as tight as she could, and nodded all the while.

John didn’t even bother putting her down, he just handed her to Oliver. He caught her easily, still keeping her off the ground as he kissed her. She doesn’t know how much time they spent like that, kissing softly between tears and smiles, wrapped around each other.

But Thea’s alarmed voice came through, making Oliver put her down and stop kissing her.

‘What’s going on?’, the young Queen yelled.

‘What’s wrong?’, Laurel’s voice came through too.

Oliver didn’t let go of her. And she couldn’t say anything more, not yet. He was silent too, so it was Roy that spoke.

‘Mommy Smoak and Daddy Arrow’, was all he said, around a snicker.

Thea screamed and ran to Oliver, attaching herself to his back. Felicity laughed, and pushed away from him, letting the two siblings have a moment. She found herself in Laurel’s arms, who was hugging her tightly.

‘Congratulations’, she said. ‘I am so happy for you’, and Felicity knew she meant it.

 _Oh god_ , she thought. _We’re having a baby._

α

They did have dinner, all six of them, in the lair. It was 5 am, and they were all tired, but they laughed and smiled and Felicity thought that she was in the middle of the best night of her life. So far.

At one point, Laurel stood up from her chair, a shocked look on her face.

‘What’s wrong?’, Oliver was quick to ask.

‘I owe my dad 50 bucks’, she breathed out, a very disgusted look on her face.

‘Huh?’

Laurel glared at him, then, strongly, making him lean backwards on his chair.

‘You couldn’t have waited six more months? I thought it was gonna take more than a year and a half. The bastard won the bet.’

Felicity laughed. She was absolutely mortified, but she laughed as hard as she could.

_I’m happy._


	38. Smoak vs. Deadshot (again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starts with a slight coffee shop, non-AU.   
> _just go with it_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When will my infatuation with Felicity/Deadshot end? Not soon. Apparently. I have a bunch of prompts I still have to write, but here I am, writing _things_. I apologize.  
>  BUT OH MY GOD THIS HAS OVER 100.000 WORDS NOW AND YOUR LOVE IS SO BIG, I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME. I LOVE YOU ALL, THOROUGHLY, MOST ARDENTLY, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Felicity really believed nothing could surprise her anymore. She was proven wrong, when she bumped into Deadshot. Literally, her forehead collided with his shoulder. In Starbucks, early in the morning, as she was making her way from the Foundry to the office.

He apologized instantly, smiling at her, joking about how well the coffee cup must have been closed, since he didn’t spill its content all over her very beautiful dress.

‘You’re not supposed to be here’, she hissed, completely ignoring everything he said.

Lawton frowned. ‘Do I know you?’

Felicity huffed. ‘We met. Briefly. In Russia.’

There was some understanding in his eyes, but he was still frowning, his head tilted to the right.

‘I’m Oliver’s EA’, she sighed. ‘Day and night’.

He finally understood, and some of the tension from his body seemed to disappear. He smiled, and her eyes were drawn to his lips briefly.

‘You’re not supposed to be here’, Felicity repeated.

‘I’m working, actually.’

‘On what?’

Lawton hummed, smiling mysteriously. ‘You don’t have clearance for that, Miss Smoak.’

She didn’t even bat an eye on the fact that he knew her name. ‘I don’t have any clearance.’

He snorted. ‘You have some. Clearly, considering you know who I am and where I’m supposed to be.’

Felicity glared as best as she could, after a sleepless night and a day at the office ahead of her, and Lawton watched her, amused.

‘Relax’, he finally said, voice dropping to a whisper. ‘I’m working a job, I have an explosive device in my head, I’m being watched, everything’s okay.’

‘That doesn’t really comfort me.’, she sighed.

Lawton shrugged. They were standing oddly close, but she didn’t even realize it, not until he took a step back.

‘Enjoy your coffee’, he winked. ‘And have a nice day.’

He left, with that, and Felicity mindlessly ordered her coffee and went to work. She didn’t mention the encounter to Diggle or Oliver.

⃝

Felicity always made sure to have enough time to stop by Starbucks in the morning. There was one close to the office building, so it wasn’t really a problem. After all, she did break the coffee maker in the kitchen at the office, and Oliver made a point in not ordering a new one.

Deadshot was there the next morning, too. He didn’t say anything to her, just held the door for her and smiled.

The next day, he told her to have a nice day. The next, he stood behind her in line.

The next Monday, he wasn’t there, but the barista told Felicity that ‘the hot guy with an eye patch paid for your usual’. The next day, he still bought her coffee, but he was there to hand it to her.

Felicity was very confused.

So when they got to the Foundry, she approached Diggle.

‘Does Lyla talk to you about work?’

John raised an eyebrow. ‘Not usually. I don’t have clearance.’

Felicity rolled her eyes at the phrase, clearly ARGUS valued it.

‘So you don’t know if Deadshot is working on something right now or not.’

Digg regarded her for a few seconds, time in which she tried to act as nonchalant as possible.

‘I can find out, if you want’, he said, slowly. Felicity nodded, smiling innocently.

‘Or you could just call Lyla’, he suggested. ‘You do have her number.’

‘That’d be awkward’, Felicity pulled a face. ‘If you remember to ask, please do. If not, just forget I ever said anything.’

‘So you’re not going to tell me what happened?’, John raised a surprised eyebrow.

‘Nothing happened’, she was quick to assure.

He didn’t seem to believe her, but he didn’t push.

⃝

Lyla texted her after a couple of hours. _Yes, he’s working, but he didn’t mention you. Let me know if something’s wrong._

Good, Felicity thought, she wasn’t going to push either. Felicity was sure that they’d gossip about it, Lyla and Digg, but that didn’t matter.

Not good, Felicity thought, Deadshot should have mentioned her in his reports.

⃝

The next morning, she arrived to the coffee shop earlier than normal. He wasn’t there, but she ordered both their drinks.

Deadshot came in just as she was getting the drinks from the counter.

‘Got a minute?’, she handed him his coffee. ‘Let’s talk.’

He regarded her for a few seconds, then sighed and checked his watch. ‘I have 5 minutes’.

‘Perfect’, Felicity turned around and sat down at a table. He followed her wordlessly, smiling slightly when he sat down.

‘Agent Michaels told me you’re working.’, she started, strongly, not breaking eye contact. ‘Does it have anything to do with my boss?’

He shook his head.

‘John?’

‘Neah’. He was amused, and his entire attitude made Felicity inexplicably angry.

‘Anything to do with me?’

Lawton smirked, and raised his eyebrows. ‘No, Miss Smoak. Nothing to do with any of you.’

She sighed. ‘And I’m supposed to believe you?’

That made him laugh. ‘I really don’t know what you’re supposed to do.’

Felicity watched him for a couple of seconds. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a gray tank top, that was fitted over his muscles and let some of his tattoos peak through. She knew what they meant, and it made her stomach turn. But he was also wearing a black leather jacket, with sleeves that were too long, and had zippers on them. He was playing with them, like a child, and the action made Felicity a bit more at ease.

There was a small smile on his lips, a slight upturn of his lips as he watched her right back, and that made Felicity pause.

‘Thank you for the coffee’, she finally said, forcing her eyes to move up his face.

‘My pleasure’, he smiled, tilting his head.

She got up, and so did he, but he didn’t follow her out of the coffee shop.

Felicity was, still, very confused.

⃝

It went on for the next two weeks. They always saw each other in the morning, taking turns in buying each other’s coffees. They didn’t speak much, pleasantries, small talk. He complimented her dresses, sometimes, and she noticed the dark circles under his eyes, that seemed to keep growing. She started ordering him a double shot of espresso for his latte.

Sometimes, he’d tell her little pieces of trivia. Architecture, music, math, literature, even programming and IT. Felicity answered, most of the times, with something completely unrelated. They’d smile at each other, the barista would sometimes laugh or request further explanations. They never said ‘goodbye’ or ‘see you tomorrow’, even if they both knew it would happen.

Felicity thought it will be awkward, but it wasn’t. It didn’t make any sense, but she wasn’t uncomfortable.

⃝

Thursday morning, he wasn’t at the coffee shop, but Felicity’s coffee was already paid for. When she got to the office, there was a bouquet of pink roses waiting for her at her desk, in front of an amused Diggle and a curious Oliver.

‘It’s not my birthday’, she frowned.

‘We know’, John laughed. ‘Got yourself a secret admirer?’

She opened the card that came with the flowers, and her eyes grew big. _The sky’s gloomy today. Figured you needed some color._ It wasn’t exactly signed, but there was a circle with a cross in it, which Felicity assumed was the bullseye some guns had. Guns, and the tech he used for his eye.

‘Not so secret, no’, Felicity sighed, before her brain caught up with her.

‘Who are they from?’, Oliver asked, taking a small step forward.

She quickly tore the card apart, throwing it in the garbage bin, surprising both of her friends.

‘Nobody important’, Felicity finally said. ‘They’re pretty, though. I’m keeping them.’

Digg shook his head, and Oliver smiled. They went on with their day and everything was back to normal.

⃝

That night, Oliver and John went patrolling through the Glades, while Felicity worked on updating her computers. Digg returned before him, but when Oliver came back, there was rage in his eyes, clearly directed towards Felicity, because he stomped his way towards her, throwing his bow towards a startled Digg.

‘Felicity’, he hissed, ‘is there something you want to tell me?’

‘No?’, it came out as a question.

‘So nothing related to the fact that you have been seeing Floyd Lawton in the past weeks.’

Digg dropped the bow, and Felicity turned to him. He was angry, as angry as Oliver. She sighed and got off her chair.

‘I haven’t been _seeing_ him’, she explained to Oliver, going as far as making quotation marks with her fingers. ‘We keep bumping into each other at Starbucks, in the morning. He’s working, he said it wasn’t anything related to us, that’s it.’

‘And you believed him?’, John yelled, making his way towards them.

‘He was telling the truth’, Oliver told him, calming him down a little. Then, he turned towards Felicity again. ‘He’s after Henry Summers. His company supplies guns for the Police, and ARGUS thinks that he also smuggles them into the Middle East. Deadshot was assigned to gather evidence.’

When Oliver paused, Felicity raised her eyebrows. ‘Okay?’

‘He wasn’t successful.’, Oliver practically growled, making goosebumps appear on her skin. ‘He has an in to a party he’s throwing, but Summers’s security system is too complicated for him to get into.’

It took a while for Felicity’s brain to catch up, but when it did, her jaw dropped.

‘He wants me to go with him and hack?’

‘Waller wants someone to go with him’, Oliver said in a very low voice. ‘And while she has people who are capable of breaking in, apparently Lawton doesn’t work well with others.’

‘So he wants Felicity to go with him?’, John asked, voice raised.

Oliver nodded, not taking his eyes off her.

‘He…’, Felicity tried. ‘He got Waller… to call you… to ask for permission to take me out. On a job.’ She shook her head. ‘What is this, third grade?’

Oliver and John were both equally mad, staring down at her. And Felicity, she started laughing. Hysterically.

That’s when Lyla entered the lair. She made her way in, watching them with wide eyes, but she didn’t say anything, and Oliver and John barely spared her a glance.

‘What the hell? I can’t... What even is happening?’, Felicity mumbled between laughs.

‘You’re not going’, Oliver growled, grabbing her elbow.

‘Oh yes I am’, Felicity nodded, still chuckling, yanking her hand out of his hold. ‘I can do this, and you know I love a party and hack job, double the fun.’

‘Felicity-‘, Oliver tried, but she didn’t let him.

‘And we do owe Waller, somewhat. For building the Lian Yu facility at your request.’

‘You don’t have to’, Lyla said softly, coming closer and putting a hand over John’s, where they were crossed over his chest. ‘Amanda called Oliver because Lawton was actually _asking_.’

That made all three of them turn to her.

‘I don’t know’, she shook her head. ‘Nobody understands how his brain works.’

That made Felicity snort, causing everybody to look at her again.

‘I’ll be safe, right?’, she asked Lyla. ‘ARGUS will be watching, Waller will be trigger happy on Deadshot’s head bomb. And Oliver and Digg will probably be waiting outside, just in case.’

Lyla nodded, smiling a bit. ‘I’ll be outside too. You’ll be perfectly safe, I promise. You don’t have to do it, but-‘

‘I’ll do it’, Felicity shook her head.

‘Why?’, Oliver finally asked, and he looked pained.

‘I need a break’, she said, more softly than she intended.

‘And Lawton’s your break?’, John asked, but it was clear that Oliver was thinking the exact same thing.

She sighed, and rubbed her forehead. ‘Yeah, let’s go with that.’

‘No’, Oliver growled once again, making Lyla turn towards him with a raised eyebrow.

‘Yes’, Felicity challenged. ‘I have a new dress, didn’t get a chance to wear it yet.’

‘You hate galas’, John frowned.

‘No, I love galas. There’s campaign and canapés, what’s not to like? I hate the people.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver said, forcefully. ‘It’s dangerous.’

‘Not really’.

‘Deadshot is-‘, John tried, but she quickly interrupted him.

‘Deadshot is more likely to kill me from a long range shooting distance, not from a foot away. Plus, he won’t let anything happen to me, because he knows he’d get an arrow through his head.’

‘I’m sick of-‘, Oliver tried again, but it was Lyla that interrupted him.

‘Boys’, she smiled, highly amused. ‘Let the lady go out on a semi-date with an attractive man without making her feel bad about liking bad boys.’

Felicity blushed, deeply, but she didn’t say anything. John was looking at Lyla like she was insane, and Oliver was looking at Felicity like she grew a second head.

‘It’s not like that’, she shook her head. ‘But I’m going.’

Oliver turned around and didn’t say a word to her the rest of the night.

⃝

Oliver took a day off from work on Friday, and so did Felicity. He didn’t say why, but it was obvious.

So she spent the morning sleeping in, taking a bath, catching up on her TV shows. Lyla came over, bringing lunch and communication devices. Felicity was glad, because she didn’t get to spend a lot of time with Lyla. John loved her, and that meant a lot for Felicity, and she was glad to find out that she liked Lyla too.

She wasn’t used to spending time with women, not anymore, but Lyla wasn’t a normal woman, clearly. So they clicked, and ended up laughing around a bottle of wine. Lyla did Felicity’s hair while she did her makeup, and they didn't talk about their work.

Lyla opened the conversation only once, and it wasn’t what Felicity expected.

‘Are you doing this because you like Lawton, or because you want to get away from Oliver?’

‘Neither’, Felicity quickly answered. ‘Maybe both.’

‘I get it’, Lyla smiled. ‘And I’ll explain it to John, so he’d get off your back. But Oliver won’t.’

Felicity sighed and continued painting her nails.

When she was done, Felicity spent a longer time than usual looking in the mirror. Her dress was black, fitted over her body, with a cut that ran all the way up to the middle of her thigh. The back was low cut, but there was a pattern of crossed strips of material over the area. She wore the most expensive pair of shoes she had, the black Louboutins with the red sole. Her nails were black, the makeup was minimal, her clutch was black with a red bow and her hair was up in a mess of elegant curls.

‘You look good’, Lyla smiled at her, then chuckled. ‘How long has it been since one of the boys complemented one of your dresses?’

Felicity grinned. ‘At the last gala we went to, John said he didn’t like my dress, because I couldn’t hide a gun under it.’

Lyla shook her head. ‘I’ll have to educate him, then.’

‘Oh, don’t do that on my account’, Felicity was quick to assure. ‘Do it for yours.’

There was a knock on her door soon after that. When she opened it, she was faced with a grinning Lawton and a glaring Diggle.

She giggled, she couldn’t help it. Lyla did the same, and soon enough, they both erupted into a fit of laughter.

‘You look beautiful’, Deadshot said, just as John asked an incredulous ‘Have you been drinking?’

That got them laughing even harder. Lyla wordlessly headed out of the house, giving John a quick kiss and grabbing his hand, dragging him away.

Lawton patiently waited for her to close the door, and politely extended his elbow. She put her hand through it and they walked together to the car. She was still smiling, but so was he.

⃝

‘Where’s Oliver?’, she asked once the three of them were in the car.

‘Already there’, Diggle answered. ‘Suited up and watching from the opposite building.’

‘I never understood your _thing_ with roofs’, Felicity shook her head. ‘Not just you two, every superhero or villain we ever met had a thing for roofs.’

‘Vantage point’, Deadshot didn't hesitate in answering.

‘I get that’, Felicity argued. ‘But most of the time, a window on the last floor would achieve the same thing.’

‘But there’s more space to move around on a roof.’, he frowned.

‘And a higher probability to be seen, because you don’t have curtains, you can hide behind them.’

‘Well, yes, but…’, Lawton paused. ‘It’s more badass if it’s a roof.’

That startled a laugh from Felicity, and an eye roll from Digg.

‘Ah, yes’, she smiled, ‘men and their egos. How did I ever forget?’

‘Hey, I take offence of that’, he spluttered, amusement written all over his features.

Felicity rolled his eyes. ‘You tattoo ever successful job on your body. Which is extremely morbid, considering it’s the names of the people you killed’, she pulled a face. ‘And extremely disturbing, because you tattoo them yourself, which, ugh’, she gave a full body shudder. ‘You’re the most narcissistic of them all.’

‘It’s not narcissism’, he hissed, strongly but he was still smiling. ‘It’s… It’s… It’s because…’

She tilted her head mockingly when he wasn’t able to finish the sentence.

‘You’re right’, he finally sighed. ‘It’s an ego thing.’

‘Thought so’, she chuckled. ‘It’s okay, though. I write down every time I hack into a database.’

‘You what?’, John’s incredulous voice came from the front of the car.

‘Yup’, she grinned. ‘It’s so egocentric, I’m surprising myself. But I write down the date and the database, and a little hint about how I did it. I actually did come back to the list a couple of times, making things quicker, because I didn’t have to brainstorm about what I should do.’

‘That’s the equivalent of a little black book of conquers a player has, isn’t it?’, Lawton asked, eyebrows raised and smirk set firmly in place.

‘Do guys actually do that?’, she narrowed her eyes.

‘Some’, Lawton and Digg said together.

‘Ugh’, she said, with feeling. ‘That is so degrading, I can’t even…’, she shook her head. ‘But yes, I guess it is somewhat equivalent.’

‘Because you get a hard on over code’, Lawton nodded, making her turn a bright red and splutter incoherently.

‘Shut up’, she finally said. ‘Code is better than humans. Code doesn’t lie to me and it loves me unconditionally.’

John sighed, deeply, as Lawton chuckled.

‘You’re the type of person who’d fall in love with an AI, aren’t you?’, Lyla’s voice came through their ear pieces, startling Felicity, because she honestly forgot they weren’t really alone.

‘An AI is a thing of beauty’, Felicity frowned. ‘Hell, the code for Siri is a beautiful thing, just thinking about the code for an AI…’, she hummed. ‘Gorgeous.’

‘And some women fall in love with shoes.’, John sighed.

‘Oh, so do I’, Felicity smiled brightly. ‘My heart is 20% shoes, 30% dresses and 50% code.’

‘And you wonder why you’re single’, John muttered under his breath, earning a few chosen words from Lyla, while Felicity and Lawton both grinned at his dejected face.

‘Digg, what’s your ETA?’, Oliver’s gruff voice came through, the first thing he said all night. It made Felicity roll her eyes miming strangling his neck, only to stop when John threw her a pointed look while he answered.

They went over the plan one more time, mingle for an hour, till the guards changed their shifts. Sneak out to Summers’ office upstairs, Felicity will copy everything while Deadshot will keep a look out, with Lyla hacking into the security feeds to help him with that.

Felicity thought it would be simple. Until she found herself with Lawton guiding her towards the crowd with a hand hovering on her lower back, his fingers brushing her exposed skin every now and then.

The funny thing was that the first thought that came into her mind was ‘That’s Oliver’s move’. And that made her turn to Lawton and smile, asking him to grab them drinks.

When he returned, he was carrying a tray with two glasses of champagne and two shots of tequila. Felicity opened her mouth to ask, but Lawton shushed her, winking and pointing at his ear.

She shrugged and drowned down the shot, much to his pleasure, judging by his grin. They slipped into silence, both of them looking over the crowd and sipping at the champagne. It was awkward, and Felicity couldn’t stand the silence, so she squared her shoulders and smiled.

‘So what’s with the trivia?’

‘Hmm?’, he hummed, glass at his mouth.

‘You know a lot of useless pieces of trivia. How did that come to happen?’

‘I have a surprisingly large amount of spare time’, he threw her a look. ‘They let me have books, and I got bored of fiction pretty early on.’

‘Why?’

Lawton shrugged. ‘They lose their entertainment when you’re living thrillers and crimes and love stories.’

Felicity found herself nodding. ‘I get that.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Then what do you read?’

She blushed, she couldn't help it. ‘Fiction, but more on the sci-fi side. And fantasy. Mostly young adult novels, to be honest’, she winced. ‘Because they don’t require too much brain function.’

Lawton laughed at that. ‘Understandable, but I can’t do that. I read The Hunger Games, and I couldn’t stop laughing.’

‘Shhhh’, she giggled, gently slapping his hand. ‘We don’t talk about that, the boss get grumpy.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver groaned, exasperated, proving her point and earning a laugh from Lawon.

‘It’s true’, she argued. ‘You spent the entire movie mumbling about posture and trajectory and you kept saying _no_ over and over again.’

‘Don’t watch Lord of the Rings’, Lyla’s amused voice came through.

‘Oh god’, Felicity groaned. ‘The horror.’

‘I feel like introducing you two wasn’t such a good idea’, Diggle said, and Felicity could practically see him shaking his head.

‘Agreed’, Oliver growled.

‘Girl power’, Felicity giggled.

‘Damn right’, Lyla said, forcefully, earning a groan from both of the men.

Lawton just shook his head and wordlessly took the now empty glass of champagne from her grip and handed it to a waiter. Then, he took her hand, squeezing it gently and guided her to the middle of the dance floor.

She didn’t protest, not when he was smiling and shushing her, again, pointing to his ear piece. They started dancing, slowly, in sync with the music, his hand on her lower back, and their intertwined hands resting on his chest.

‘They’re very protective of you, aren’t they?’, he whispered, with a look she couldn’t quite read.

‘Yes’, Oliver and Digg answered together, voices dropped below their normal level.

Felicity sighed, but she couldn’t help the smile that played on her face. ‘I’m their girl’, she shrugged. ‘And they’re my boys. No offence to Lyla.’

‘None taken’, she didn’t miss a beat. ‘I have more than enough boys.’

‘I resent that’, Lawton said, making Lyla sigh.

They fell into silence again, but this time, Felicity didn’t break it. She just lost herself, a bit, into the dance. Lawton was good at it, much to her surprise. Not as good as Oliver, a voice in the back of her head kept saying, but Felicity was enjoying herself. Until her eyes skipped across the room and saw a pair of brown eyes throwing daggers at her.

‘Oh crap’, she sighed and instinctively lowered her head to Lawton’s shoulder.

‘What’s wrong?’, he frowned, holding her a bit more tightly, just as Oliver’s concerned voice came through, saying her name.

‘Isabel is here.’, she growled under her breath, making Oliver groan, pitifully, much to Lawton’s surprise.

‘Who?’

‘We work with her. I mean, Oliver works with her, they’re partners in the company, she just glares at me while planning my death, probably.’

‘Is she engaging?’, Oliver sighed.

‘No, she’s not the Enterprise’, Felicity rolled her eyes, making Lawton huff in amusement. ‘Sorry, I mean, no, she isn’t approaching, it appears I’m not interesting enough if I’m not by your side.’

She froze when the words left her mouth, only to have Lawton squeeze her hand a bit more forcefully, spinning her around and dipping her, bending her back. She squealed, she couldn’t help it.

‘Now that’s just bullshit’, he said, voice low, smirking down at her, keeping her securely in his arms. ‘You’re a lot more interesting without Queen stealing your spotlight.’

‘Put me up’, she gently slapped his chest, giggling all the while. There were a few people who were looking at them, staring, really, with smiles on their faces, and Felicity pointedly ignored them. Isabel was nowhere to be seen, so she sighed in relief and rested her head on his shoulder again, as they continued dancing. He didn’t seem to mind.

⃝

‘Two minutes till the guard shift’, Digg told them a few minutes later. ‘Head up the west stairs’, Lyla added.

‘Ready?’, Lawton asked her, stopping their dancing and once again, squeezing her had.

‘I was born ready’, Felicity grined, earning a chuckle out of him and a barely heard sigh from Oliver.

They made their way quickly up the stairs and into Summers’ office, Lawton keeping her hand in his all the way. He smiled at the staff that passed them and even turned around to smile at her a couple of times.

Digg and Lyla’s voices in her ear, constantly updating them at the state of the security, telling them that the coast is clear, it made Felicity feel at ease. So when she sat down in the chair in front of Summers’ computer, she quickly got to work.

It barely took her 30 seconds to hack his password, earning a whistle from Deadshot. She ignored it, mostly, waving her hand around and going on with her job, uploading all the files Waller needed onto a cloud.

‘Jesus Christ, you’re fast’, Lawton breathed out half way through. When Felicity looked up to him, he was leaning against the desk, close to her, staring at her fingers. His mouth was still opened and his body was bent at the middle, leaning into her space.

‘No wonder the Arrow has dibbs on you.’, he said, somewhat reverently, and the phrasing made Felicity pause.

But Oliver was fast to answer. ‘The Arrow can hear you.’, he growled, making Felicity shiver.

‘The Arrow can stop referring to himself at the third person’, she muttered, going back to her work. ‘And Deadshot can stop referring to me as an object.’

‘Sorry, love’, he shrugged, backing away a bit.

‘That’s not better’, she threw him a pointed look, to which he just smirked.

Felicity sighed and continued to copy the files, trying her best to ignore how Lawton was looking down on her, alternating between staring at her fingers and down her cleavage.

When she was done, she asked Digg for the clear to head out, which he quickly gave, so Lawton took her hand again and guided her back to the main room.

‘One last dance?’, he smiled, a hint of something mischievous in his eyes.

‘We’d better not. Wouldn’t want to keep them waiting.’, Felicity rolled his eyes, walking in front of him and dragging him along.

John told them that he’s waiting in the car a block away, so they slowly made their way down the street. The wind kept blowing strands of hairs into Felicity’s face, but there wasn’t much she could do about it, because Lawton was still holding onto her hand.

When they got to the car, Digg and Lyla were there, leaning against it.

‘Everything okay?’, John asked even before they stopped walking, and Felicity saw the way his eyes roamed over her, clearly checking for injuries. He zeroed in on where they were holding hands, and Deadshot seemed to notice it, because he squeezed once and let go.

‘Yeah’, Felicity grinned. ‘That was fun!’.

John rolled his eyes, so she turned towards Lyla.

‘I uploaded the files seperatly, the guns and the drugs.’

‘Drugs?’, Lawton asked.

‘Yup, the cocaine he’s smuggling in from Cuba.’

‘We didn’t know about that’, Lyla said, slowly.

Felicity paused, then shook her head. ‘Job well done, then.’

Lawton chuckled, turning towards Lyla. ‘Waller could use her on the team’.

‘No’, John, Lyla and Felicity said at the same time, glaring at him.

He shrugged, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

‘We should get coffee sometime’, Lyla grinned at her, and Felicity was quick to grin back and nod her acceptance. Digg just sighed, while Lawton pouted.

‘I’m gonna miss our coffee dates’.

Felicity raised an eyebrow at him. ‘There were no dates.’

‘That hurt’, he deadpanned, and Felicity paused for a second. Then she laughed and playfully shoved his shoulder, muttering a ‘shut up’ under her breath.

‘Can we go now?’, she asked John hopefully.

He shook his head, pointing at the car. ‘As soon as Oliver’s done changing’.

‘That must be’, she gulped. ‘… flexible’.

There was a thud coming from the car, that madeFelicity wince. Lyla bit her lip to keep from laughing, but then she grinned. ‘We definitely need to get coffee sometime. And vodka.’

‘Heh’, was all Felicity managed to say, trying to ignore the blush she probably had on her cheeks.

Lyla winked and stated walking away, grabbing Lawton by the arm. He didn’t turn around, walking backwards and grinning at Felicity.

‘It was a pleasure working with you, Miss Smoak.’

‘I’m sure’, she rolled her eyes. ‘The pleasure was all yours.’

He winked and blew her a kiss, and Felicity just sighed.

The door to their car opened then, Oliver’s gruff command of ‘get in’ making Felicity gulp. She looked towards Digg, for help, but he just threw her a pointed look that said ‘this is all your fault.’

She sighed and got into the car, squirming under Oliver’s gaze. Because, oh, was he gazing. He was staring at her, a tick in his jaw and his eyebrows frowned, hands clasped tightly in his lap.

When they got to her house, Oliver followed her to the door. He didn’t say anything though, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

Felicity frowned at him, but she took of her heels and headed towards the living room, sitting down on the couch, breathing a sigh of relief. She didn’t even realize she was this tired.

Oliver didn’t sit down, just loomed over her from a few feet away.

‘You know you’re important’, he started, making Felicity freeze. ‘And I care about you, and so does Diggle. We just want you safe.’

He paused, looking at her. Felicity didn't seem to be able to close her mouth, but he must have seen something on her face, because he smiled and went on.

‘We want you to be happy. We don’t care who you date, as long as he makes you happy and he keeps you safe. But, please, for the love of god’, he closed his eyes, ‘don’t make us go through that again.’

‘Was it that bad?’, Felicity asked before her brain could catch up.

Oliver winced, but didn’t miss a beat. ‘Hearing Deadshot shamelessly flirt with you? Yes, yes it was.’

Felicity frowned. ‘It really wasn’t that bad, we barely talked.’

He sighed. ‘That was not platonic dancing.’

And that was the moment when she realized that they all saw them, on the security cameras. Felicity felt herself blush, and dread settled in her stomach. Before she could think better of it, she quickly got off the couch and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Oliver froze for a few seconds, but then he relaxed and lifted his arms over her back, one of them settling on the back of her neck. He sighed, and angled his head so that his cheek was pressed to the top of her hair.

‘Sorry’, Felicity whispered. ‘And thank you, you handled this very well.’

‘I was prepared to shoot an arrow through his other eye if he did anything’, Oliver mumbled, making her grin. Still, she spoke again, making sure to make it sound teasing.

‘Much better than when Barry was around.’

He froze, again, but Felicity pushed, verbally and physically, tightening her hold on his waist.

‘I mean, Barry was clearly the high point of your jealousy scale, and this whole thing was barely hitting the half mark. Even if I really didn’t consider this to be anything like Barry, Lawton's a killer who spends most of his time locked away in a cell. I have _some_ standards.’

Oliver was quiet for a few moments, time in which Felicity lifted her head so that he could look at him. He had his eyes closed, and a fairly pained look on his face.

‘You’re going to be the death of me’, he finally sighed, whispered and said softly, so softly.

So Felicity pushed up on her toes, reaching up to kiss his jaw, quick and barely touching his skin, but still making Oliver shiver. ‘And you’re going to love every second of it’, she whispered, placing another few kisses down his neck. ‘When you decide you’re ready.’


	39. Felicity vs. Derek Hale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[Clau](http://praisethedarkness.tumblr.com/) wanted some Arrow Wolf, including this [gifset](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com/post/86716451151/derek-and-felicity-have-gotten-off-on-the-wrong). _  
>  So here's some Felicity/Derek. Ish. Non-romantic, pre-Sterek, pre-Olicity. Aka four times Felicity was afraid of Derek, and one time she wasn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got way out of hand. I think you can read it without watching Teen Wolf :).

_The first time she’s scared of him_  
 _is the first time she sees him._

☉

 

When things calmed down in Starling, the city working on repairing itself. But after Oliver got back Queen Consolidated and promptly asked Walter to come back as the CEO, Felicity noticed that he grew more and more uneasy with every day that passed.

She figured out quickly enough that it was because of Thea. Roy had told them what happened that night, that she found his quiver and that she left. But she didn’t call, she didn’t contact Oliver. Almost 9 months had passed, and he had no news.

So Felicity took matters into her own hands, and with the help of the computers in their new lair, she started tracking Thea down. Only to stop short when she found security footage of her getting into a car with Malcom Merlyn.

Oliver just stares at the computers for a few seconds. Then he swears and flips over several tables. She lets him, keeping Roy away as well. They don’t leave, though. They stay there until he calms down, until he stalks towards Felicity and orders her to find her, until he whispered a barely audible ‘please’, until he put a hand on Roy’s shoulder and took him to the training mats.

So Felicity took a deep breath and worked her magic. A couple of days later, she found something. Oliver was already packing his arrows even before she finished the sentence. Roy said that he’ll stay behind, that Thea wouldn’t want to see him, and that the Arrow still needed to make appearances in Starling. Oliver agreed, but not before calling Laurel, who was quick to assure him that she’ll be there for help, if Roy needed. Diggle was home, taking care of Lyla and their new born baby and nobody was going to change that, even if Felicity texted him updates from time to time.

‘Am I coming?’, she asked after she straightened her shoulders.

‘Please’, was Oliver's instant answer, and she immediately went home to pack her bag.

That’s how she found herself in this situation. They were in Beacon Hills, a small town in California. Oliver remembered that Merlyn used to have a cabin in the woods here, and while there was no trace of it anymore, they still went looking.

Oliver was in full Arrow gear, even if it was the middle of the day. But they didn’t walk the known paths, and he’d insisted on it, saying that he needed it if they found Merlyn. She didn’t argue.

But when the satellite view showed them some movement half a mile away, Oliver told her to stay put. Felicity argued, but he wouldn’t hear it.

So she was all alone, in broad daylight, in the middle of the woods, in a clearing, watching as three people were heading straight towards Oliver.

Then she heard howling. She knew there weren’t any wolves in California, so she put her phone in her pocket and started walking, trying to find somewhere to hide.

Felicity stopped short when a bunch of fireflies came straight at her, stopping when they surrounded her. She tried batting them away, but her skin burnt when it came in contact with them.

Seconds later, a man ran into the clearing. He was absolutely gorgeous, Felicity thought. Rough, hard lines and strong muscles. She opens her mouth to say something, but she can’t talk.

Felicity panics, just as the man stops two feet in front of her.

‘Let her go’, he growled, making a shiver run down her spine.

‘No’, she hears someone whisper, from somewhere close, but there’s nobody else, just her, and him, and the fireflies.

‘Let. Her. Go’, he said once more. But his eyes started glowing, bright blue, and his front teeth grew longer, turning into fangs, and there was hair growing on his face and he was growling, properly growling, the sound resonating around her, and from one second to another, the howling made sense.

Felicity still couldn’t talk, even though she wanted to scream.

‘You’re trespassing’, another voice came through, and it sounded like music to Felicity’s ears. She looked behind the creature in front of her, and saw a kid, about Roy’s age, tall and lanky, with messy hair, a Captain America t-shirt and a plaid shirt over it.

He came to stand behind the werewolf, putting a hand on his back.

‘This territory belongs to the Hale wolves.’, the kid spoke strongly, even if he looked so soft. To Felicity, at least.

‘Alpha McCall doesn’t want you in his territory, and the fact that you didn’t introduce yourself upon arriving says a lot.’

‘Is he bad?’, Felicity heard the whispered voice again. ‘Will he kill us?’

‘If you hurt someone, yes. If you leave now, he won’t.’

‘But the woods are wonderful.’

‘Leave’, the werewolf growled once more. ‘Let her go and leave.’

‘And Alpha McCall won’t be forced to deal with you.’, the young man added, a violent glint in his eyes.

Felicity heared a whispered sigh that surrounded her and made the forest around her tremble. And then the fireflies disappeared.

The young man sighed, dramatically, wiping imaginary sweat from his forehead. ‘Thank god they left, I fucking hate fairies.’ The werewolf shook his head and took another step towards her.

‘Are you hurt?’

And Felicity realizes that she can move, than she can talk, and she promptly freaks out.

So she screams and punches him in the jaw. Hard. His head moves to the side with the force of it, and he takes a step back. A dark, unsettling silence sets in the clearing.

The werewolf moves his jaw, and she hears it pop. She screams again, shorter this time, but just as strong. The young man is staring at her with his jaw dropped and his hand fisted in the wolf’s Henley.

‘You hit me’, he says, dumbstruck and shocked.

Felicity doesn’t dare move, but then, the young man yelps. And promptly starts laughing, loud and hard, clutching to the other man, trying to sit up straight. He isn’t very successful, and Felicity can only stand there.

‘She punched you’, the kid wheezes out, delighted. ‘The tiny, pretty blonde punched you!’, he shrieks. ‘In the face!’

The wolf turns to him, and scowls. That seems to make the kid laugh even louder, so he pushes him away, but it’s playful, more than anything else, and it makes Felicity’s jaw drop.

Oliver comes running through the clearing, then, saying her name urgently, with his voice modulator turned on. He stops short at the sight in front of him, and then slowly makes his way towards her side.

The wolf takes a few steps back them, a very confused look in his eyes. The kid had his eyes closed, still laughing, but he must have felt him move, because he opened his eyes.

He immediately stopped laughing, his jaw falling at the sight of the Arrow. He yelped, then promptly fell on his ass.

‘What happened?’, Oliver asked, slowly, not taking his eyes off the two men in front of him.

‘Fairies’, the wolf deadpans.

‘He has claws!’, Felicity shrieks, grabbing a hold of Oliver’s arm. ‘And fangs.’

There is a pause. ‘No’, is all Oliver says.

‘Yes’, the kid challenges, even if it doesn’t stands for more, considering he’s still on the ground.

The wolf flashes his blue eyes, then, looking straight at Oliver. Who promptly knocks an arrow in his bow and points it straight at his chest.

‘Dude’, the kid wheezes out, standing up and moving behind the wolf, who tensed, but it looked protective, to Felicity. He’s not afraid of Oliver or his arrow, but he seems to keep his body bigger, shielding the younger man.

‘He’s a werewolf’, he says from behind the wolf. ‘The arrow would hurt, yeah, but he’d pluck it out and it would heal pretty quickly.’

Oliver just blinks a couple of times, his arrow not wavering, but he doesn’t shoot.

The wolf sighs then, and shifts his face again. That startles a reaction from Oliver, who promptly steps in front of Felicity. He’s still aiming the bow at the man’s chest, but Felicity sees that he’s trembling. Slightly, but it’s there, and her hand is on his shoulder before she even realizes.

‘We’re not going to hurt you’, the kid says from behind the wolf. ‘We’re a peaceful pack, as you just saw’, he winks at Felicity. ‘I’m human though’, he shrugs, like he’s annoyed to say it. ‘Anyway, we didn’t hurt the fairies, just told them to leave, before they hurt someone, like you, considering they were holding onto you. So we’re not going to hurt you, could you please lower you bow?’, he looks towards Oliver, voice lowering. ‘Mister Arrow, sir?’

The wolf turns back to human, then, just so he can turn his head and glare at the kid. When he turns his head back around, he looks straight into Oliver’s eyes.

‘You’d be dead by now if we wanted to hurt you’, he deadpans, suddenly looking tired.

‘Which we don’t’, the kids adds. ‘Cause you did us no harm. Obviously. What even are you doing here?’, he frowns.

Felicity squeezes Oliver’s shoulder, and he lowers the bow, taking the arrow out. She wordlessly takes it and puts it back in the quiver, because Oliver didn’t move from shielding her.

‘We’re looking for someone’, Felicity says.

When she doesn’t elaborate, the kid raises an eyebrow. ‘Someone bad, I assume, judging by the full Arrow getup.’

‘Why are you looking in the woods?’, the wolf frowns.

Oliver sighs, so Felicity nudges his back. ‘Maybe they can help.’

‘We will if we can’, the kid nods quickly. ‘We’re nice like that.’

He grins and Felicity can’t stop the small smile that comes on her lips, because he’s cute. Dorky, but cute.

‘I’m Stiles, by the way.’, he adds. ‘And this is Derek.’

Oliver still doesn’t say anything, so Felicity sighs and steps around him. Stiles does the same, so they’re now facing each other.

‘I’m Felicity and-’

‘And he’s the Arrow’, Stiles interrupts, a giddy excited look in his eyes, that makes Felicity smirk.

‘Yes.’, she nods. ‘And we tracked down Malcom Merlyn to Beacon Hills. He used to have a cabin here, it’s not here anymore, but we thought we’d look.’

‘Merlyn’s dead’, Stiles frowns, deeply, looking at Oliver. ‘You killed him after the Undertaking.’

‘I didn’t kill him good enough’, Oliver hisses out.

Stiles considers this, and when he starts talking, he’s talking fast, waving his hands around. ‘What is he doing? Is he up to something? If he was up to something, I thought he’d let the world know. He’s clearly somewhat self-centered, and the fact that you failed in killing him, that would’ve just pumped his ego. Right?’

Felicity opens her mouth, but Stiles continues, speaking even faster than before.

‘Unless he’s not doing anything, and that’s why you’re here. Which is understandable, cause when a diabolical asshole doesn’t do anything, that means he’s planning something. And that ain’t good. You’d think he’d come after you.  Cause you fucked up his plans and he seems like the type of man to seek revenge.’

He stops when Derek puts a hand on his shoulder, and Felicity snickers, because it’s a familiar move, she’s been on the receiving end of it more than once.

Oliver turns to her with a pointed look. ‘You managed to find the only person in the world who speaks faster than you.’

She glares, but relents pretty quickly. ‘At least he manages to keep on track.’

‘He really doesn’t’, Derek sighs.

Stiles pouts, and Felicity feels compelled to move on.

‘Merlyn’s got Thea Queen with him.’

Oliver freezes beside her, but she ignores him. Stiles’ eyes grow wide for a second, than he frowns.

‘He kidnapped her?’

Felicity shook her head. ‘She went willingly.’

‘Shit’, Stiles breathes out and turns towards Oliver. ‘How are you-‘, he stops, just looks for a few seconds, then his face scrunches up. ‘Dude, I can’t take you seriously, with the mask and the hood and the voice modulator which is freakishly awesome, but, seriously, it’s 70 degrees outside, aren’t you like melting in the leather?’

Oliver doesn’t say anything, he just tilts his head, slowly.

‘No, really, you should take your hood off’, Stiles insists. ‘Mr Queen.’

‘I’m not Oliver Queen’, he sighs.

‘Dude, I figured it out a long time ago’, Stiles says, somewhat affronted. ‘I’m surprised nobody else did, cause every time the Arrow disappears, Oliver Queen disappears. And every time he comes back, so does Oliver Queen.’

‘I’m not Oliver Queen’, he repeats.

Stiles turns toward Derek, a raised eyebrow. The werewolf smirks.

‘That was a lie.’

‘No, it wasn’t’, Felicity quickly argues.

Stiles smiles at her. ‘Werewolves heal faster, they run faster, they’re stronger. They also have enhanced senses, sight, smell and hearing. So he heard your heart skip a beat when you lied.’

‘Really?’, Felicity’s jaw drops.

Stiles smirks. ‘How tall are you?’

‘5.4’

‘Truth’, Derek says.

‘What’s your favorite band?’, Stiles asks.

‘Metallica.’

‘Lie’, Derek smirks.

Then, Stiles turns towards Oliver. ‘What color underwear are you wearing?’

‘Red’, he frowns.

Derek blinks, then scrunches up his nose. ‘Truth.’

Felicity bursts out laughing, as Oliver gapes.

When nobody says anything for a few seconds, Felicity gently extends a hand towards Oliver’s voice modulator, and shuts it off. Oliver just looks at her.

‘We can help you look for your sister’, Stiles says, softly. ‘We’ve been finding arrows in the woods in the past week. Thrown on the grown, in trees, it looks like someone’s been training. We thought it was kids, but the arrows seem too high end for it.’

Oliver sighs at that, but he takes off his hood and slides his mask down his neck.

‘I don’t trust a bunch of werewolves.’, he says, slowly, looking intently at Derek.

‘Two werewolves’, Stiles counts off his fingers, ‘a beta’, he points at Derek, ‘an alpha, a banshee, a kitsune, a hunter, the Sheriff, a nurse and’, he points at himself, ‘a human.’

‘The Sheriff?’, Felicity wheezes out.

‘He’s my dad’, Stiles grins, proudly. It warms her heart a bit.

‘I still don’t trust you’, Oliver says.

‘But you want to find your sister’, Derek nods, a hint of something in his voice, something Felicity can’t really place, but she thinks it’s something sad. By the way Stiles squeezes Derek’s shoulder, throwing him a soft smile, she knows it’s true.

Oliver nods, and takes a hold of her hand, just as they hear a howl in the distance. Felicity shivers, and it hits her again, werewolves, fangs and claws and she’s scared again, scared shitless if she’s being honest, so she holds onto Oliver’s hand tighter and presses their sides together.

Derek sighs and turns towards Stiles. ‘Train your Alpha to use a phone’. Then he cranks his head up and howls, in what Felicity assumes is a response. But it’s close, so close, Derek’s standing two feet away, and the howl reverberates in her chest.

Felicity holds onto Oliver tighter, and presses her face into his shoulder, the leather scratching her cheek, but bringing her some comfort. Oliver’s other hand, the one she wasn’t holding on to, comes up to frame her face, as he turns his head towards her, putting his chin over her hair. She’s terrified, and she knows she’s shaking.

When Derek stops, Stiles punches him in the shoulder. ‘Asshole, you scared her.’

He turns towards her, eyes wide. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t’, he stammers.

‘Look’, Stiles interrupts, ‘why don’t you just sit on this for today? You staying at a hotel?’

Oliver shakes his head, bringing his hand down from her face, but not letting go of her hand. ‘We rented an apartment.’

‘Right’, Stiles says, slowly. ‘Billionaire. Okay. So uh, let’s meet tomorrow. We can come to yours, on your turf, or you to ours, well, to Derek’s apartment, if you’re comfortable with that. And we’ll talk and figure out our next move.’

‘Why?’, Oliver asks.

Felicity doesn’t know what he means, but Stiles understood.

‘We don’t want Merlyn here either.’, he shook his head forcefully. ‘We have enough supernatural shit to deal with, we really don’t need a psychopath with arrows running around.’

‘Not again’, he pulls a face, after a beat.

Felicity doesn’t ask, and neither does Oliver, but he nods. So Felicity pulls out a business card from her pocket, handing it to Stiles. It’s not one of the QC ones, it’s one she made specifically for Arrow related things, it just says Felicity, her phone number and email.

Stiles takes it, smiling at her. ‘You okay to find your way back?’

She nods, pulling her phone out, showing him the satellite view with the gps.

‘So cool’, he breathes out.

‘Say goodbye, Stiles’, Derek sighs.

‘Goodbye, Stiles’, he doesn’t miss a beat in answering, earning an eye roll from Derek and Oliver both, but a smile from her.

She’s still scared, and Oliver’s still holding onto her hand, and she’s sure she’s going to dream about fangs and claws tonight, but Stiles is cute and she really wants to find Thea.

☉

_The second time she sees Derek,_  
 _Felicity’s still afraid of him._

Oliver decided they should go to Derek’s apartment, he wasn’t very comfortable with it, but it was better than cramping the small place they rented with strangers.

The loft is spare, to say the least. Exposed brick, holes in the wall, mismatched furniture that Felicity’s certain came either from Goodwill or from a forgotten storage unit. But it feels lived in, little pieces thrown here and there, a couple of pillows on the couch, three colored mugs on the desk, a Twister mat curled up in a corner, a hoodie on the back of a chair, a stack of books near the bed.

They meet Scott, the alpha, and Lydia, the banshee, Kira, the kitsune, and Felicity’s very overwhelmed. But the girls smile at her and compliment her jewelry, and Stiles brings her coffee, and Kira just shoves a box on cookies in her hand, whispering to not let Stiles get to it, because he’ll eat it all.

The girls apologize, saying they have to leave town for a couple of days, that it’s a supply run, and Felicity really doesn’t want to know what kind of supplies they’re after. But Oliver nods calmly, thanking them for their wish to help, and Lydia makes Stiles promise to call if they can help in any way, and Kira kisses Scott before she leaves, and she hugs Derek, who scoffs but hugs her back, and she ruffles Stiles’ hair and Felicity is blown away.

‘You’re teenagers’, she says when the door shuts behind the girls. ‘You’re all kids.’

Derek very pointently comes into her field of vision, with an eyebrow raised.

‘Shut up’, she waves a hand. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m older than you.’

‘Nope’, Stiles grins, flopping himself on the couch next to her. ‘You’re born in the same year, actually.’

She turns at him, glaring, just as Oliver crosses his arms over his chest. He’s standing stiff, close to the exit, but he didn’t bring his bow, so that counts for something in Felicity’s mind.

Stiles rolls his eyes. ‘Come on, give me some credit. Of course I checked you out. I already knew stuff about Oliver, the public things anyway. It wasn’t hard to figure out you’re his EA.’

‘Did you find anything interesting?’, Felicity raises an eyebrow, despite herself.

‘No’, Stiles pouts. ‘Not much. I mean I found your school records, very nice, by the way, MIT with honors, Lydia was very impressed; and stuff from your job. But nothing too interesting’, he shrugs.

Then, he smirks. ‘But then I found some very appealing videos, from your collage days.’

Felicity pales, just as Oliver takes a step forwards, frowning.

‘And I gotta tell ya’, Stiles chuckles, ‘my mind is pretty sick, always has been. Ask Scott. But I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out a reason as to why you would be riding a mechanical bull in a bar, in a swimsuit, reciting the Fibonacci sequence. Cute tattoo, though, I love it.’

Scott starts laughing, then, loudly. Derek is frowning, tilting his head as he stares at her. Stiles is snickering, and Oliver is, well, he’s blinking really fast and his jaw is dropped.

Felicity’s mind kicks back into action, and she ignores the blush on her cheeks and the mortifying embarrassment.

‘I deleted those!’, she tells Stiles, forcefully. ‘From everywhere.’

‘Not from the Police’, he raises an eyebrow.

‘Yes I did.’

Stiles shakes his head, highly amused. ‘You may have deleted the Police report, but you didn’t destroy the evidence.’

‘God damn it’, she whines, hands coming up over her face. ‘How the hell did you even get into the police records?’

‘Dad.’, he shrugs. ‘How did you manage to delete them?’

‘I’m a hacking genius’.

‘You’re so cool’, Stiles sighs, dreamily. ‘I love you.’

She punches his shoulder.

‘Just how drunk were you?’, Derek asks, handing her a bottle of beer.

‘Not at all’, she groans. ‘I lost a bet to the teacher I was TAing for.’

Oliver clears his throat. ‘Felicity, I’m going to need you to stop, please.’, he says slowly. ‘While I can still look you in the eye.’

‘Sure’, she agrees, easily. ‘But keep in mind the Foundry had cameras. That I checked. Constantly.’

He gulps and looks away, as Stiles starts to snicker again. ‘You’re amazing!’

She turns to him again, and pats his cheek. ‘You’re underage.’

Derek snorts, making everybody turn to him. He clears his throat and straightens his back. ‘How about we move on to why we’re here?’

Stiles immediately starts talking, about what they found in the woods in the past week. He hands Oliver one of the arrows and it is Merlyn’s, and Felicity grabs it fast, starts tracing it on her laptop. It’s no help, because the address they were delivered to is a warehouse in Beacon Hills, and when she checks the satellite view, it’s not there anymore. After some more research, she finds out that it was demolished on the city’s order, and then the trail goes cold.

‘Is that a satellite view?’

Felicity yelps and clutches to her chest, because it’s Derek, and she didn’t see him coming, and he’s standing next to her on the couch. He’s not touching her, but she can feel the heat radiating off him.

‘I’m sorry’, he says softly, ‘I didn’t mean to startle you.’

She nods, but doesn’t manage to say anything. He regards her for a few seconds, extending his hand as if to touch her knee. But she flinches, hard, and he quickly takes his hand back. Derek’s frowning, and his lips are pressed thin, but then he shakes his head and gets off the couch without saying another word. He walks over to where Oliver is with Stiles and Scott at the desk, looking over maps of the Preserve, telling him something.

Oliver quickly makes his way towards her, sitting down and putting his hand behind her, on the couch, barely touching her. He doesn’t ask if she’s okay, which she appreciates, but he does ask what she found.

Felicity starts talking, and it calms her down, but she’s still throwing looks in Derek’s direction. Who has his back turned towards her, and she sees he’s stiff, and she sees Scott walking away from him, but Stiles stays behind. They’re whispering, and Stiles puts a hand on Derek’s forearm, still talking, but the wolf deflates, visibly.

It takes Oliver softly saying her name and touching her hair to look away.

‘Werewolves, huh?’, he says, around a small smile.

Felicity shakes her head. ‘Anything to find Thea.’

Oliver kisses her cheek, and they go back to hunting Merlyn down.

☉

_The next time she sees Derek,_  
 _Felicity’s still afraid of him._

It’s night, late at night. Felicity's leaving the Police station, where she spent the last hours hacking into several different data bases, trying to find Merlyn. Stiles’ father said that she should do that from the station, because if anybody found out, he’ll be able to come up with an excuse for her.

She felt weird, very out of her place in the station, sitting at the Sheriff’s desk, while he filled paperwork. Felicity liked him, he was a strong man, clearly, but she could see how much he cared. They didn’t talk much, but when they did, his love for Stiles and his pack radiated off of him. He was snarky and sarcastic, clearly a trade Stiles inherited from him. The Sheriff reminded him of Detective Lance, in that way, and it made her feel a little more at ease.

But she didn’t find anything, so when Felicity stepped out of the station, close to 1 am, she felt disappointed, and scared, she was so scared for Thea. She was wrapped in her thoughts, so she barely noticed Derek, managing to stop until she collided with him.

‘I’m here to take you home’, he said in a detached tone. ‘Oliver was held up in a conference call.’

When she didn’t say anything, just nodded weekly, his expression softened. ‘Stiles offered to come pick you up, but I wasn’t going to let you in that piece of crap jeep of his, I’m pretty sure it’s older than us.’

She cracked a smile at that, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

Derek sighed. ‘I’m not going to hurt you, Felicity. I promise.’

‘I know’, she sighed. ‘You’ve proved that, but I…’

‘It’s hard to take, I understand’, he nodded, a flash of something crossing his eyes. ‘But you have a lot on your plate right now, you don’t need to add this to the list.’

‘That sounds like something Stiles would say’, she smiled, feeling a bit of the tension leave her body.

Derek smiled, shaking his head fondly. ‘I’m not good with words.’

‘But he is.’

The wolf nodded. ‘He also knows how I think.’

‘That’s nice’, Felicity found herself saying. ‘You’re nice.’

Derek didn’t say anything, just opened the car door for her.

‘You’re all nice’, she said, once in the car.

‘And very good looking’, Felicity frowned. ‘Is that a supernatural thing? That wouldn’t explain Stiles, though. And all the hunky deputies. Is there something in the water? I feel like I should test it, cause I’ve been here for days and I don’t think I have seen an unattractive person. I mean, even the average Joe is hot, maybe not your levels of hot, but still, hot. That can’t be normal.’

When she looked at Derek, her brain finally catching up with her, realizing what she said, Felicity opened her mouth to apologize. But she thought better of it, when she saw that the tips of Derek’s ears were red.

But then, he smirked at her, radiating confidence and cockiness.

‘Thank you, but don’t let Stiles hear you say that. We’ll never hear the end of it.’

‘Oh, he’s not hot’, Felicity shook her head. ‘I mean he is, but he’s more adorable than hot, isn’t he? Like, I’d rather cuddle with him on the couch that climb him like a tree.’

Derek blinked tree times, not looking from the road. ‘You said …’, he cleared his throat. ‘He’s underage.’

Felicity wrinkled her nose. ‘I would never. I mean, just because I can look at someone objectively and comment on their good looks, that doesn’t mean I’d… want anything.’

He seemed to consider this, and as he stopped the car at a red light, he turned toward her, a small smile on his face.

‘When women say something like that, it usually means that they’re either already seeing someone, or that they have someone on their mind.’

‘I’m single’, Felicity shrugged. ‘And even if I had someone on my mind, between being Oliver’s EA and the Arrow’s hacker, there’s not a lot of time left for dating and things. Hell, there’s barely time to sleep.’

‘So you find someone who works with you. Either at the office, or with the Arrow.’

‘No’, she shook her head.

Derek turned toward her, and smirked.

‘That was a lie. But that’s okay, cause I’m a werewolf, and we can smell emotions. Somewhat.’

She blinked. ‘What the hell does that mean?’

He smirked again. ‘Stiles figured it out too, from yours and Oliver’s body language.’

‘It’s not like that’, Felicity said instantly. ‘Yes, we care about each other, and we’ve been through a lot, a whole lot, it’s impossible not to come out of that being close.’

‘I know that’, he sighed, ‘god knows I know that. But not that close.’

Felicity shook her head. ‘I feel like this conversation has gotten way out of line.’

‘Yeah’, Derek nodded. ‘I really don’t talk this much.’

She snorted. ‘I would have never guessed.’

They drove in silence for a while, and Felicity was the one to break it.

‘Thank you, though. For helping us. And I am sorry if it brings up any bad memories.’

Derek’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, but he didn’t say anything. Felicity felt the need to explain.

‘I’m not going to apologize for doing a background check on all of you, but-‘

‘It’s fine’, he interrupted. ‘I… Stiles keeps telling me that even though I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’m supposed to learn from them.’

‘Smart kid.’

Derek smiled. ‘So this is me’, he said in a voice so low that Felicity barely heard it, ‘trying to help Oliver not make the same mistake as I did, of getting to her too late.’

Before Derek let her out of the car, he asked her, point blank, ‘Are you still afraid of me?’

‘Yes’, Felicity answered, trucefully. ‘But now I feel bad for it.’

He seemed to consider that a good answer.

When they got to the apartment, Oliver and Stiles were sitting on opposite sides of the couch, both of them with a laptop, while Scott was curled up on the floor, snoring slightly. He didn’t wake up, not even when Felicity started talking, telling them what she did at the station, that she didn’t find anything, and they reported what they did from their end.

‘We’ll find her’, Stiles said, looking with concern at the angry look on Oliver’s face.

‘But not tonight’, Felicity sighed. ‘Excuse me, boys, but I can barely keep my eyes open. Goodnight.’

She kissed Oliver’s cheek, startling him slightly, even if this was something that they did every now and then. Then, she kissed Stiles’ forehead, who sighed happily and melted into the couch with dramatic movements. She stopped in front of Derek, who raised an eyebrow.

‘Yeah, nope’, she shook her head and awkwardly patted his chest. ‘You’re good.’

Stiles’ hysteric laughter followed her to the bedroom.

☉

_The next time she saw Derek,_  
 _she didn’t get scared of him_  
 _until at the end of the meeting._

Felicity woke up late the morning after the Police station, thankful that Oliver let her sleep in, she really needed it.

She was coming out of the bathroom, having brushed her teeth, when her phone rang. It was Roy, skyping her, with video nonetheless.

‘What’s wrong?’, she answered frantically. ‘What happened?’

But Roy was smiling, in the lair, with Thea by his side.

‘Thea!’, Felicity yelped. ‘What?’

‘Is Ollie with you?’, she asked softly, and the next second, Oliver burst out through the door, a frantic look in his eyes.

Felicity turned the phone around, and he sighed when he caught sight of Thea, shoulders sagging. She handled him the phone, guiding him to sit on the edge of the bed. Felicity squeezed his shoulder, but then she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and giving them some privacy.

She found Derek and Stiles in the kitchen, sitting at the table filled with coffee, orange juice, donuts and bagels.

‘We were going to circle the woods’, Derek said instead of greeting, ‘but I heard you and I told Oliver and-‘

‘Don’t listen in’, Felicity said when she realized that Derek could hear every word of the conversation. ‘Please don’t listen in.’

‘I’m not’, he was quick to assure.

She nodded and sat down at the table, ignoring the way Stiles was very not subtly staring at her legs, that were barely covered by the shorts she slept in. But then he grinned, telling her that he had the same bullzeye t-shirt.

‘Hawkeye’, was all she said, and Stiles bursted out laughing, pointing to Oliver’s quiver, that sat on the fridge.

They ate in silence, until Felicity yelped, her thoughts jumbling in her head.

‘Can you turn the hearing off?’, she asked Derek, confusing him. ‘Can you not listen? Or not smell things?’

‘I..’, he shook his head. ‘I can control it, tune it out.’

‘Huh. Is that hard?’

‘Not so much. It’s harder for bitten wolves.’

At her confused look, Stiles explained, that Derek is a born wolf, that Scott was bitten, what being an alpha means, and how a beta becomes one. When he was done, she turned towards Derek again.

‘You don’t know what it’s like to be like us.’

‘That’s harsh’, Stiles said defensively.

‘No, I mean…’ ,she took a breath. ‘You’ve been a werewolf all your life. You always heard heartbeats, you always knew when someone was lying, and you always smelled things, a lot of things and OHMYGOD as if periods weren’t hard enough to deal with in highschool.’

Derek’s ears turned bright red, as Stiles hummed, muttering about how he never thought of that.

‘People normally don’t’, Derek told him. ‘When they find out, they focus on finding out all the things we can do, not about what it means to us.’ He turns to Felicity. ‘You thought about that pretty quickly, I think it’s a record.’

‘I’m sure other people thought of it too’, she smiled. ‘But they have brain to mouth filters. That I don’t.’

‘I want one’, Stiles sighed, dreamily.

‘Yeah’, Felicity agreed.

‘What’s the worst thing you ever said?’, he whispered, a playful look in his eyes.

She thought about it, and when the answer came to her, she blushed deeply.

‘Tell me’, Stiles poked her ribs.

‘I was doing a job with Oliver, I was in a mobster’s casino and he was outside. And we were talking through earpieces.’

‘And?’, Stiles urged her along.

‘I like having you inside me.’

Stiles fell off his chair laughing. Felicity wanted the ground to swallow her whole, and Derek just placed another donut on her plate.

When Oliver comes out of the bedroom a few minutes later, there’s a tick in his jaw.

‘She’s fine’, is the first thing he tells Felicity. ‘Thea’s convinced him to let her say goodbye, to me. That’s why she’s there.’

‘She’s leaving?’, Felicity whispers, frowning.

Oliver shakes his head. ‘She doesn’t want to, she figured out how messed up he really is. He’s been _training_ her. She already knew a bit of archery, but he made her work on that. And hand to hand combat, and agility and-‘

‘He’s making her into a killer’, Felicity says, and her stomach turns. ‘Did he tell her about you?’

‘Yes. She’s not mad, but…’

He doesn’t finish the sentence, and something in Felicity’s mind clicks.

‘So Merlyn’s in Starling?’

Oliver nods. ‘And he knows where the lair is. But we have a time and place where he’ll be tomorrow night.’

‘We’re calling ARGUS.’, she says, forcefully. ‘You don’t have Digg anymore, and you might have Roy and Thea by your side, but it’s not enough and you know it.’

He looks prepared to argue, but she doesn’t let him, speaking in his loud voice.

‘The last time you fought him, you stuck an arrow through your shoulder just so you can get to him. And it didn’t work, the bastard’s still alive and kicking and you are not going in without a high chance to finish it. We can’t afford to lose you, and neither does Thea, not now. Is that clear?’

He stares for a few second, but he nods, grabbing a hold of her hand and squeezing tightly.

‘Did you drive here?’, Derek’s voice startles her.

‘Jet’, she answers, but doesn’t take her eyes off Oliver.

‘So you got room for three more?’, Stiles asks and they turn to look at him sharply.

‘I’m not saying ARGUS isn’t good’, he shrugs with a cocky smile on his face, ‘but I have a feeling two werewolves are better. And I’m pretty good with a crossbow, if the target’s not running at a supernatural speed.’

‘Merlyn can catch an arrow. With his hands. I’ve seen him do it.’, Oliver says, very slowly.

Stiles pulls a disgusted face, but shakes himself out of it. ‘Good thing I’m really good with a gun too.’

‘You can’t-‘, Felicity starts, only to get interrupted by Derek.

‘We can. And we will, if you let us.’, he tells Oliver. He turns to Felicity then. ‘I’m not up to leaving anyone loose their sister.’

His eyes flash, just for a second, and his expression hardens. There’s rage in his eyes, anger and determination. It scares Felicity, once again. But this time, she realizes that it’s a good thing. So she turns towards Oliver, who’s already watching her.

‘Anything for Thea’, she tells him, softly. Then, Felicity smirks. ‘Merlyn might have a heart attack at the side of _werewolves_ ’.

Oliver regards her for a few more seconds, but then he turns towards Derek and Stiles. ‘You should talk to Scott.’

‘Oh, I did’, Stiles grins. ‘He’s already packing.’

‘You should stay here’, Felicity tells him, making him splutter. ‘I’m not denying your bamf factor, but he’s a trained assassin. ‘

Stiles puffs his chest out. ‘You haven’t seen me with a shotgun. Fighting a dragon.’

Her jaw drops and she looks towards Derek, expecting a snort. But he nods.

‘He’s coming to Starling with us. He’s not going to join us in fighting Merlyn’, he ignored the sounds of indignations that Stiles makes, ‘because someone capable needs to stay with you, make sure you’re okay.’

Stiles shuts up at that, and Oliver gets up from the chair he was sitting on.

‘Glad we agree. Go pack, we’ll meet you at the airport in four hours.’

And that was that.

☉

_The first time Felicity isn’t afraid of Derek,_  
 _she feels stupid that she had missed all the signs._

The 24 hours before the meeting with Merlyn are stressful. They fly back to Starling, heading straight towards her house. Roy and Thea are already there, and they brought a lot of weapons from the lair, guns and arrows both. She shivers when she sees them stacked in her hallway.

But then Thea’s there, pushing past her to get to Oliver. He catches her, holding onto her tight. There might be a few tears in her eyes, but Thea’s full on crying and Oliver doesn’t seem far from it. So Felicity directs Stiles, Derek and Scott to the living room, giving the siblings some privacy.

The three of them freeze when they see Roy. Apparently, they know someone who looks very similar. It’s awkward, until Roy says something fairly offensive, and Stiles rolls his eyes, calls him an asshole and tells him they’ll get along fine.

Felicity’s scared. And she feels lost.

But then, Roy’s snapping her out of it, bumping their shoulders and whining about the lack of food in her fridge. And then Thea’s throwing herself at her, hugging her tightly and thanking her for taking care of Oliver. Felicity starts crying then, but she doesn’t care very much, so she just picks up her cat and cuddles with it on the couch.

‘There’s a cat’, is the first thing Oliver says when he enters the room.

‘His name’s Quiver’, she smirks. ‘Because he keeps sleeping in the one you left here.’

‘It’s fat’, Derek says, earning a glare from her and a smack on the head from Stiles.’

‘He’s cuddly’, Felicity argues.

‘I need to clean my quiver.’, Oliver says, making her sigh.

‘I need food’, Roy whines, making her sigh again.

‘A lot of food’, Scott nods. ‘Werewolves eat a lot.’

‘Werewolves?’, Thea frowns, and Felicity buries her face in the cat’s fur.

When Scott and Derek shift, Roy falls over the coffee table, breaking it. Thea just tilts her head and asks Stiles about vampires.

Felicity gets up, directs Roy towards the broom closet, grabs Oliver’s hand and drives them to Big Belly Burger.

She’s exhausted by the time they get back. They eat, quickly, and Felicity makes sure to let everyone know where they can find pillows and blankets. She tells them to make themselves at home, to fight over the two guestrooms and the living room couch, because she doesn’t care.

She takes a quick showers, changes into her pajamas and she falls asleep instantly. But she doesn’t sleep for long, she keeps waking up, and the second time she does so, Oliver’s sitting in the doorway, just looking at her.

‘I didn’t mean to wake you’, he whispers.

She waves a hand around and sits up, and he takes that as an invitation to come in.

‘Why are you still up?’, she asks, after he closes the door.

‘I talked to Thea till now. She finally fell asleep.’

She knows better than to ask about how that conversation went. ‘What about everybody else?’

‘They’re asleep too. They need it.’

‘We all do.’, she agrees. ‘So where are you sleeping?’

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep that much.’

‘So where do you plan on pretending to sleep?’

He shrugs. When she raises an eyebrow, he smiles a bit.

‘Roy and Thea are in a guestroom, Stiles and Scott in another, because apparently they’re the only ones who can stand each other’s snoring, and Derek’s on the couch. I’ll read in the kitchen, I just wanted to check up on you.’

Felicity’s stomach flips, but she wastes no time in turning on one of the bedside lamps, and moving herself on the other side.

‘There’s more books in the office, and the remote is under the tv.’

‘Felicity?’, he frowns.

‘Just lay down, Oliver’, she sighs, ‘Even if you don’t fall asleep, you’ll get more rest on a bed.’

He hesitates for a few more seconds, but he picks up the remote and sits down next to her, above the covers, leaning on the head board. She pats his knee and whispers _good boy_ , but she’s asleep too fast for her brain to register it.

She doesn’t wake up anymore during the night. It’s Roy who wakes her up, who wakes them up, because Oliver is asleep next to her. It’s almost noon, which is a miracle, and they’re holding hands. It makes Felicity’s heart rate pick up, but Roy doesn’t comment on it. Neither does Oliver, who waits for Roy to close the door behind him. He doesn’t say anything, just bring their joined hands to his lips, kissing her knuckles.

‘You can do this’, she whispers.

‘I have to’.

‘You’re not alone anymore, not like on that roof. _Werewolves_.’

That makes him smile, just as they hear Stiles’ alarmed voice, yelling at Derek to put the damn cat down.

It’s a very weird day, and Felicity barely remembers any of it, not until Stiles sits down next to Oliver and asks him what were they going to do with Merlyn.

‘Cause I know you have a non-killing policy, since the last time you went against him.’

Oliver doesn’t say anything for a long time, but he turns to Thea.

‘He’s your father.’

Thea nods, like she was expecting it. ‘What are our options?’

It’s Felicity that answers. ‘Arrows, claws and guns, give him to the Police, so Iron Heights, or get him to the super secret facility ARGUS built on an undisclosed island, specifically for people Oliver takes down that are too dangerous to be put in a normal prison.’

‘He deserves to rot on an island’, Thea says, 'considering you were there because of him.' 

Felicity clearly isn't the only one who's relieved by her decision.

And then, she’s left with Stiles, standing in the living room, watching as they all get ready and head out the door. But not before Oliver kisses her cheek and promising her that he will come back, and not before Stiles and Scott hug, and Stiles punches Derek’s shoulder, telling him to bring his furry ass back in one piece.

She hacks into several different security feeds facing the meeting point, making sure to stop the recordings, but keeping the live feed on her living room tv. Felicity ends up in a leap of tangled members on the couch, snuggling as close to Stiles as she can. But it’s okay, cause he seems to need it as much as she does.

They wait, in silence, and from one blink to the other, the fight starts. She’s holding her breath, and Stiles’ fingers are digging bruises on her hips. And then, Oliver falls down, and she sits up straight.

Derek and Scott roar, then, finally shifting into their werewolf form, but Malcom doesn’t even bat an eye. That makes Stiles sit up straight.

They look at each other, concerned and scared, both of them.

‘Do you have more guns?’, Stiles asks.

‘Can you ride a bike?’, Felicity counters.

10 minutes later, Stiles is driving the bike Oliver left in her garage straight to the fight, Felicity holding onto his back.

Stiles barely stops the bike, and Felicity has to take a second to take in the scene in front of her. Scott is out for the count, still wolfed out, unconscious on the ground. Roy is next to him, in similar condition. Oliver’s moving, but he doesn’t get up. Derek is the only one left fighting Merlyn, but he’s stopped a few feet away from him, because Malcom has Thea in a choke hold, gun to her temple.

Derek roars and takes a step forward, and Malcom points his gun at him. She barely sees Stiles rushing to Derek’s side, pushing him out of the way, Stiles falling to the floor with a weird twist of his body.

Felicity sneaks up behind Merlyn, who surprisingly doesn’t notice her. So she hits him in the head with the back of a shotgun. Twice, as hard as she can, just as Thea elbows his groin and steps on his foot.

Malcom falls to the ground, and Felicity just stares at Thea for a couple of seconds. Then, they’re moving, Thea checking on Roy, Felicity hears him say he’s fine, while she checks on Scott, who’s mumbling about a coach. But he’s going to be fine, so Felicity rushes to Oliver’s side.

He picked himself up from the ground on his own, he’s groaning, but he assures her that he’s fine.

‘You were shot!’, Derek’s roar reverberates over everything.

Felicity grabs onto Oliver’s arm, as they both turn to look at where Stiles is on the floor, clutching to his upper arm. Derek’s next to him, on his knees, hands roaming all over Stiles’ body, but not touching.

‘It’s a scratch!’, Stiles yells back.

‘He didn’t even have wolfsbane, I could have taken it!’

‘He was aiming at your head!’, Stiles splutters.

‘You could have died!’, Derek says, still yelling strongly, both hands fisted into Stiles’ shirt.

‘You asshole!’, Stiles screams, stronger than before, pushing at Derek’s chest, even though it doesn't move him at all.

And then, he tilts his head up and kisses Derek, bringing his unhurt arm around the wolf’s neck. Derek responds, immediately, hands coming around Stiles, from Felicity’s vantage point, it seems like his entire body is enveloping Stiles, like a bubble of warm werewolf, protecting him from the outside.

It’s passionate, and fast and desperate, and it makes Felicity’s stomach turn. She’s staring, she knows she is, but she can’t look away. The way Stiles melts against Derek's body, that's what makes Felicity think she's never going to be afraid of the werewolf ever again.

‘Finally!’, she hears Scott groan. When she turns to him, he smirks at her shocked look.

‘If I would have known that’s what it'll take to get them together’, Scott says, loudly, ‘I would’ve shot Stiles years ago!’

‘I heard that!’, his best friend screams back, but he doesn’t detach himself from Derek’s face for long.

Felicity starts laughing, turning around and hugging Oliver. He grunts, surprised, but wraps his hands around her nonetheless.

‘Are you okay?’, he asks, breathe tickling her ear.

She nods. ‘I am soooooo okay.’

He snorts. ‘You spent too much time with Stiles.’ There’s a pause. ‘Who is still going strong on Derek’s tonsils.’

Felicity pulls back from the hug to look at him. He has a weird expression, she can’t read it, but there is amusement in his eyes. And Oliver seems relieved, which is understandable, considering the unconscious Merlyn behind them.

‘I am going to call Waller’, Felicity says, lifting herself on her toes so she can kiss Oliver’s cheek. ‘And then I am going to get drunk, so drunk, your 21st birthday levels of drunk.’

He frowns.

‘You can join me’, she snickers, reaching for her phone.

☉

Felicity does get drunk. Stupendously drunk.

In her living room, with everyone around her, with Scott pouting that werewolves can’t get drunk, with Stiles getting drunker than her, with Roy and Thea laughing so hard it shakes the windows, with Derek constantly handing out bottles of water, with Oliver picking her up in his arms and taking her to bed.

He stays, though, and in the morning, he wakes her up with aspirins and coffee.

Before the boys leave back for Beacon Hills, Stiles hugs her for three minutes straight, kissing her check sweetly, promising to call and skype. Derek, though, he gently pets her hair and kisses her forehead, and she giggles, with a background noise of _awwwwwwwh_ coming from Stiles and Scott.

She doesn’t really care, because Oliver takes a picture of it.

☉

A week later, Oliver kisses her in the middle of the grocery store, as she's debating if Roy wants Coke or Dr Pepper. She freezes, looking at him with wide eyes. But he smiles, soft and adoring, so Felicity feels the need to run her fingers over her lips. They tingle.

She doesn’t ask, but Oliver responds either way.

‘I really didn’t want to end up like Stiles and Derek. One of us getting hurt before I…’, he pouts, ‘finally get my head out of my ass, as Digg so delicately put it.’

Felicity doesn’t stop the snort that escapes her lips, but that’s okay, because she kisses Oliver after and they don’t stop for a long time.

☉

Later that night, when she texts Stiles a picture of Oliver sleeping in her bed, she gets back a picture of Derek sleeping with his head on Stiles’ kitchen table.


	40. Hawkeye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a canon running around about Felicity wearing superhero underwear. I approve.

Felicity always dresses nicely, everybody knows this. Even if it’s casual Sunday at the Foundry, her outfit is always color coordinated with her shoes and accessories, even if it’s just t-shirts and jeans.

She’s attentive, it’s just in her routine, she doesn’t do it consciously anymore. Underwear, though, that’s a different story. She has her favorites, which she only wears on a special occasion or where there’s a chance someone will see them (that didn’t happen in a while, but still).

If that’s not the case , Felicity has too admit that her underwear drawer is one of a teenager. Her panties consist of funny texts, superhero logos, cute patterns and colors abound.

So she doesn’t really think about what she picks on a normal day, working at the office and in the Foundry. She didn’t think that morning, because she didn’t know she was going to have to leave the Foundry to help Oliver and Roy catch the bad guy of the week, she had no idea that she was going to get stabbed in the thigh.

→•←

Oliver panics. That’s what he does. He may be calm on the outside, but on the inside, he’s panicking. Always thinking of _what if_ s, over thinking every move, his or of the people around him.

So when Felicity gets stabbed, he panics. He keeps his calm until he gets his hands on the guy who did it, while he handed him to Detective Lance. But when the Police was gone, and it was just him and Felicity in the back of the car, with Roy driving them back to the Foundry, Oliver panicked.

He put his hand on the wound, applying pressure, hating himself for getting her into this position, for making her to come save him, for forcing her to take the knife out herself.

Felicity’s groaning, but she keeps telling him that it’s okay, that it doesn’t hurt that much and that it didn’t go deep. She’s angry, more than anything, saying that she can’t wait to get back to the Foundry, so that Oliver can clean her up, then go home and drown herself in wine. Oliver can relate.

→•←

He carries her down the stairs, waits for Roy to put a blanket over the metal table. While he gathers supplies, Oliver lays her down, taking his hood off and folding it under her head. He doesn’t even hesitate in taking her jeans skirt off, but he might have did it rather violently, considering the yelp Felicity letsout.

Oliver opens his mouth to apologize, but he can’t get the words out.

He’s seen Felicity like this before, he’s seen her in a swim suit. And while he had to take a moment to catch his breath then, the shock has faded. But now, now, he cannot look away from her panties.

They’re black, covering everything they’re supposed to, but the drawing on them, it makes Oliver’s pulse quicken and all the blood in his body rush between his legs.

‘Oliver?’, Felicity sits up on her elbows. ‘Why are you looking like that, you said it wasn’t bad.’

‘It’s not’, he says hoarsely, but he doesn’t manage to look her in the eye.

Roy comes over then, with medical supplies, and he freezes too, eye growing wide.

‘What’s wrong?’, Felicity sits up properly, looking down at her legs. ‘Come on, guys, it’s not that bed. Just clean it and be done with it.’

They don’t move.

‘Will you stop staring?’, she puffs. ‘You’ve seen me in a bathing suit before, this isn’t anything new. Stop blushing like virgins and get to work.’

That makes both Roy and Oliver look up, and they just stare at each other. Roy is blushing, all the way down his neck, and Oliver has to swallow a few times in order to get his voice back to normal.

‘There is a bullseye on your panties’, he says, slowly.

Felicity blinks three times, looking at him. Then, she looks down and groans. Loud. She collapses back on the table, grabbing the corner of the blanket and putting it over her face.

Oliver looks at Roy, seeking help. It doesn’t come, because Roy has a hand over his mouth, to keep himself from laughing.

‘It’s Hawkeye!’, Felicity startles them, yelling loudly.

Roy starts laughing out loud.

‘What’s Hawkeye?’, Oliver asks, weary.

That earns him a glare from Felicity.

‘Really, Oliver? Really? Ugh, you’re hopeless.’, she groans, covering her face again. ‘He’s a superhero, well, not much of a superhero, cause he doesn’t have any superpowers. He’s just very good with a bow and arrow, it’s his trademark weapon. He’s good with guns and fighting too, though, he’s part of the Avengers.’

‘Okaaaay’, he drawls out, shaking his head and trying to get his mind back in the right direction.

And he does, he starts cleaning her wound, as gently as he can.

Roy finally stops laughing a couple of minutes later. He takes a deep breath and takes the blanket off of Felicity’s face, so he can kiss her forehead.

‘That was the best thing that has ever happened, thank you.’

Felicity scoffs and bats her hands at his face, threatening bodily harm and emptying of bank accounts, but she stops when Oliver starts stitching her wound.

→•←

None of them mention that incident again, but Oliver has a feeling Roy told Digg about it. Because the next time they visit him, Lyla and the baby, John looks at him and Felicity for a long while, sighing and shaking his head.

Sometimes, Oliver really hates Digg.

→•←

A couple of days later, Oliver is at the office, but he has nothing to do. He pretends to do something, but he ends up reading an e-book on his computer. Until Felicity comes in, without saying anything, handing him her tablet.

After she leaves, Oliver sees that the tablet is opened on a comic book, Hawkeye #1. He snorts, and shakes his head, exasperated by his fangirl friend, but he starts reading it, for Felicity.

He doesn’t stop until he’s done. There were 16 issues. Oliver finds himself wanting more.

He doesn’t say anything to Felicity, just hands her the tablet and drives them to the Foundry.

→•←

Oliver hasn’t said anything about the comics, but Felicity knows he read them. He didn’t take his eyes off her tablet for the rest of the day, so that much was clear.

But over the next weeks, Felicity noticed that Oliver kept dropping Hawkeye references, sometimes intentional, other times he surprised even himself.

They were walking down the street and a Labrador started puttering around him. Oliver petted him and called him Pizza Dog.

When he injured his ankle, and Roy accidentally pushed him, making him step on the leg forcefully, he yelped ‘ow ow foot ow’. After he righted himself, he smirked.

Once, when he was training Roy, perfecting his aim with the bow, he used almost the exact words Hawkeye does: Feel the wire tense. Slow your breathing. Relax your hand. Shoot.

When they attended a gala, and Felicity was feeling her usual dose of nerves and anxiousness, Oliver put a hand on her back, telling her that ‘This is casual. Nice and casual.’ Felicity nodded, but after a few seconds, Oliver smirked, again.

One night, Roy was training hard, pushing himself, and he broke a training dummy. Oliver sighed, telling him that he understood, but that he should ‘respect the gear’.

When he asked her if she thought a smoke bomb arrow tip would be helpful, Felicity debated on calling him out on it. But, in the end, she did think the arrow would be helpful, so she didn’t mention.

But when Oliver came into the Foundry on a Sunday morning wearing a light purple sweater, exactly Hawkeye’s color, Felicity couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

‘Purple isn’t a good color on you’, she told Oliver, making everyone in the Foundry freeze, because they all knew Felicity wasn’t one to not compliment him. Even Laurel was there, Thea too. They were all gaping at her.

Oliver had a similar reaction.

‘Oh?’, he frowned. ‘And why is that?’

‘Because I actually thought you were Clint for a moment there, what with the light hair and the purple and the cuts on your face. And it’s not a good look on you.’, she patted his cheek. ‘Stick with the green.’

‘Green’s better than purple?’, Oliver smirked.

‘Definitely.’, she smiled.

He returned the smile, but there was a mischievous spark in his eyes.

‘So I should buy you Green Arrow panties, then.’

Felicity blushed, but she laughed. ‘It’s endearing, how you assume I don’t have them already.’


	41. Douchebag Jar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Can you do a story where felicity puts a douchebag jar in the foundry. Including a lot of humorous olicity and team arrow goodness_

Oliver just… froze. When he came back to the foundry and saw the _thing_ on Felicity’s desk. He wasn’t the only one, Roy and Digg were right behind him. They seemed to stop moving too.

It was a jar. Not too big, not too small, but empty. With dark green and red arrows painted on the sides. And in the middle, with white, the words _douchebag jar_ were painted in a cursive, girly font.

‘What the hell, blondie?’, Roy was the first one to find his voice.

Felicity turned her chair around slowly, smiling up at them and straightening invisible creases on her skirt when she got up.

‘You know I love you’, she stared with. ‘Unconditionally’, she grinned. ‘But that doesn’t mean you always deserve it.’

Roy spluttered. A weird sound, combined with a complex hand movement, but Felicity wasn’t fazed.

‘You get douchy! All of you, and me, sometimes, I admit. And it’s not okay, because no matter how much we love each other, and no matter how fast we move past it, it hurts.’

‘No’, Roy tried.

‘Yes’, Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘So in the spirit of brotherly love and a healthy working environment, the Douchebag Jar was born.’

‘So what? We’re supposed to put a nickel in it every time we fuck up?’, Digg asked, and Oliver could hear the amusement in his words.

‘Of course not.’, Felicity scoffed. ‘We’re supposed to put a dollar.’

‘And what will we do with the money?’, Roy raised an eyebrow, and Oliver nodded, because that was a good question.

‘I haven’t figured that out yet’, Felicity frowned. ‘We’ll pass that bridge when we come to it.’

Roy looked like he was going to protest, but in the end he sighed, looking towards Oliver.

‘There’s no point in arguing, is there?’

Oliver regarded Felicity, the set of her jaw, the tense muscles on her back and arms, the slightly vicious glint in her eyes. ‘No’, he sighed. ‘Absolutely no point.’

(◡‿◡✿)

Oddly enough, Felicity was the one to first use the jar. She had a long day, Oliver knew this. She was tired and frustrated, her work at QC leaving her in a bad mood. Once in the Foundry, she picked a fight with Roy, Oliver didn’t even figure out what it was about.

But at one point, Felicity told Roy that, basically, the only things he was good at was looking pretty.

She froze the second the words fell from her mouth, and so did Roy. Oliver was about to intervene, but then Felicity launched herself at Roy, hugging him tightly and shoving her face in the crook of his neck.

Roy just stood there, not moving, arms frozen half way up.

‘I’m so sorry’, Felicity spoke quickly, ‘I didn’t mean it, you know I didn’t, you know I don’t believe that, I’m sorry, so sorry, please forgive me.’

‘I will if you let me breathe’, Roy mumbled.

She let go of him, but not before kissing his cheeks a dozen times and apologizing a couple of more times.

‘We’re okay, blondie, get over it’, Roy smiled and that made Felicity smile back. She wordlessly made her way to her desk, picking up her wallet from her bag. She put a 5$ bill inside the jar and grinned back at Roy, who was shaking his head.

Oliver shared an exasperated look with Roy when Felicity finally went back to her computers, but he couldn’t stop the warm feeling he got in his gut. Team Arrow was definitely something else.

(◡‿◡✿)

It went on, after that. Oliver didn’t contribute much, but Roy and Digg did.

As calm as Diggle was, when he was out on the field, his words got the best of him. Oliver didn’t mind, Roy didn’t seem to mind either, but Felicity was adamant about the douchebag jar, even though it was never directed at her.

He didn’t ask question, when they came back to the Foundry. Felicity just informed him how much money he owed the jar, and John wordlessly reached for his wallet. He’d kiss her forehead every now and then, and the way Felicity would smile, giggling and so full of love, it made Oliver’s stomach turn.

(◡‿◡✿)

Roy didn’t even realize when he was saying something hurtful, but Felicity waited for him in the Foundry with notes, most of the time. She wrote down everything he said on post its, quoting the exact words.

Every night they went out, Felicity waited for Roy with a stack of post its, and he didn’t comment on it after the first week, he just grabbed his wallet and put money in the jar. Felicity always rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek, and he always playfully pushed her away, mumbling about manlyhood and about how he didn’t need a big sister. Felicity didn’t stop doing it.

(◡‿◡✿)

Laurel laughed for five minutes the first time she saw the jar. Then, she hugged Felicity and asked her out to dinner.

Oliver couldn’t find it in himself to intervene.

(◡‿◡✿)

A couple of days later, Detective Lance asked for a meeting with the Arrow and with Felicity. They went, and they listened to what the Detective was asking of them, and Felicity was quick to agree to help. Oliver didn’t mind.

At the end, Lance made a jab at Oliver, he doesn’t really remember what he said, but he does remember the sigh the Detective let out, as he handed Felicity a dollar.

She giggled, but took it wordlessly.

Oliver really had no idea what to say to that.

 (◡‿◡✿)

He had to attend a charity gala, and of course he brought Felicity along. They got ready in the Foundry, leaving Digg and Roy behind to deal with Arrow business, patrolling the city.

When Felicity came out of the bathroom, she took their breaths away. They’ve all seen her in formal attire before, but this time, it was something else.

A short dress, nude, with a pattern of dark red lace on top, making it seem like she was only wearing the lace. It was fitted over her body, revealing her curves and the definition that came with the training she did with Roy. The dress was strapless, but the design came up behind her neck, directing the attention to the messy bun her hair was tucked up in.  Felicity’s legs seemed endless, with the nude heels she wore that matched her clutch. Her lipstick and nails matched the dark red lace perfectly.

Oliver took a deep breath and looked towards the other two men. Wordlessly, they all took out a dollar and put them in the jar.

‘What's that for?’, Felicity frowned.

‘For things left unsaid’, Digg nodded, clearing his throat.

‘Oh my god’, she shrieked, blushing furiously and gaping at them. Oliver gently took her hand in his and directed her to the car.

(◡‿◡✿)

One night, they were eating dinner after a long mission, they were all too hyped up to sleep.

Felicity was setting the table, and Oliver saw the way Roy was watching her, with amusement but also something similar to awe.

‘So’, he said, making his way towards her and looking over her shoulder, ‘are you setting the table because you know we’d be shit at it, or because you’re a woman?’

Felicity froze, gently putting the plates she was holding on the table. Then she turned towards Roy, glaring.

‘You’re more than capable of setting the table.’

Roy frowned. ‘That doesn’t answer my question.’

She hummed and took a step forward, getting in his space.

‘Give me a reason why I shouldn’t knee you in your family jewels for being a sexist.’

Roy gulped, and swallowed. Oliver heard it from where he was standing, all the way over to the training mats.

‘Because I’m going to put a dollar in the douchebag jar?’, Roy said, slowly.

Felicity raised an eyebrow.

‘And because I’m going to set the table?’

She hummed, seemingly satisfied, smiling and patting his cheek. ‘You do that.’ Then she turned around and swaggered her way to a chair that was already set at the table, her pony tail hitting Roy in the face.

After he set the table, Felicity watching him all the while, he turned toward Oliver.

‘Since when are we all under Felicity’s domination?’

Oliver thought about denying it, but one look at her evil grin, and he couldn’t get the words out anymore. So he sighed, and shook his head.

‘We were doomed the moment she laid a finger on us.’

‘That sounded kinky’, Felicity scrunched up her nose.

Oliver shrugged. ‘I was half naked when you agreed to help me.’

‘You were bleeding!’, she spluttered.

‘You were touching my unconscious body for hours’, he found himself grinning.

Felicity just snorted and shook her head. ‘We should stop this conversation before we slip into sexual harassment territory.’

‘Not like it’s anything new’, Roy muttered, and Felicity threw a napkin at his face.

(◡‿◡✿)

Most of the incidents were small and easily forgettable. Others were not.

One night, Roy was training with Felicity on the mats, and he punched her in the stomach too hard, because she fell on the floor and instantly started crying.

Oliver was beside her in an instant, but she wrestled out of his hold, telling him to shut up, even before he opened his mouth.

Felicity yelled, at Roy, completely ignoring the tears that were streaming down her face. She screamed for minutes, reminding him that she’s a woman, and that she’s not Sara, that she’s fragile and even if she’s working on it, she’s not there yet. That he should be more careful, that he should spare her.

‘Well they wouldn’t spare you, would they?’, Roy finally talked back. ‘If anyone ever attacks you, they won’t spare you. They’d kick you and fight you with all the strength they have.’

Oliver tried to open his mouth, but Felicity squeezed his wrist, effectively stopping him from doing so.

‘I know that’, she yelled, furiously wiping away her tears. ‘But that doesn’t mean you get to do it, not now, Roy. I’m not ready for that yet, I don’t have muscle mass and strength. That’s what we’re working on and later, when I have, feel free to not spare me at all.’

‘You have to be ready’, Roy insisted. ‘If I cut you slack, when a jerk punches you as hard as he can, you’ll be too surprised by it, and you won’t be able to fight back.’

‘Be that as it may, but I’d still like to have kids at some point in the future.’

Roy took that like a punch to the gut. His jaw fell, his eyes grew wide and he took a step backwards.

‘Did I hurt you that bad?’, he asked softly, remorse written all over his face.

‘I can take it’, Felicity said, strongly. ‘But not constantly. And especially not this week. I’m on my period, so that’s probably the reason I’m crying uncontrollably.’

Oliver put a hand on her lower back without even thinking about it, and Felicity pushed back into it. But then, Roy stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her shoulders in a whirlwind, and Felicity let out a surprised _oomf_.

But then she relaxed, and brought her arms up to rest on his waist, and Oliver took a step backwards, involuntary raising a judgmental eyebrow at Roy. He saw it, but didn’t address it.

‘I’m paying the douchebag jar tonight’, Roy told Felicity without hesitation. ‘And I’m taking you out for icecream.’

He looked at Oliver, a challenge in his eyes. ‘You can come too.’

‘You’re paying’, is all Oliver answered, but he smiled when he heard Felicity’s giggle.

(◡‿◡✿)

Laurel asked for help in a case, once, and it was a difficult one. It was risky for the Arrow to be involved, and Oliver knew it was a bad decision, but he also knew he couldn’t say no to Laurel.

Digg had a different opinion, which he quickly informed Oliver on.

‘I told you, ages ago, that you’ll always choose Laurel, everyone else be damned. And a few months ago, after Blood, you told us that wasn’t the case anymore. But it still is, isn’t it? You’re not even in love with her anymore, but you’re still throwing yourself in the fire for her, with no regards to your safety or the safety of the people around you.’

Oliver saw red. His anger flared, inexplicably so, and he hissed at his friend.

‘I learned that the Arrow isn’t just one man. And you need to learn that the Arrow isn’t as reckless as before, especially when it comes to those he cares about.’

With that, he directed Laurel towards Waller, who was willing to help.

Diggle apologized a couple of days later, putting a 5$ bill in the jar. Oliver smiled, and Felicity sighed happily, cooing about how she was feeling the love.

(◡‿◡✿)

The worst incident though, was all on Oliver.

They were at the office, and he was in the middle of a meeting with a very obnoxious woman. She was his mother’s age, but that didn’t stop her from shamelessly flirting with Oliver.

He was uncomfortable, and he could see that Felicity was too, but he couldn’t do anything about it. She was an important possible investor, and Oliver had to suck it up.

When the woman started complaining about how tired she was, he would’ve done anything for her to stop talking. So he said something he instantly regretted.

‘I’ll just get my secretary to bring us coffee.’

Felicity froze, but snapped out of it soon enough. He said her name, but she wouldn’t have it.

‘Of course, Mister Queen’, she hissed, and asked the woman how many sugars she liked.

When Felicity came back, she brought the woman her cup of coffee, and a can of Coke for Oliver. He hated Coke. She knew it.

She didn’t stick around for the rest of the meeting and didn’t speak to him the rest of the day.

When Oliver arrived at the Foundry, a couple of hours after Felicity, he got her a big bouquet of pink roses. He also put a 50$ bill in the jar, and that was what made her smile, reach and take the roses, her fingers brushing his. She kissed his cheek, showing him that he was forgiven, and put the flowers in the jar.

She took them home when she left, though.

(◡‿◡✿)

A couple of days later, the jar was empty and there were throw pillows on the couch and the cot in the Foundry. They were dark green, with a pattern of bright pink little hearts on it. Oliver laughed, when he saw the way Roy rubbed one of them over his face, whispering about how soft they were.

Oliver had to agree with him, but only after a couple of days, when he fell right on top of them, hands full of a half naked Felicity. They shouldn’t tell Roy about that, though, he’d never touch the pillows again.

They should also remember to put some money in the jar. Having sex in the work space is surely a douchebag move.


	42. Why do you keep her around?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Britany asked: _You should do a jealous Laural chapter. Like how she keeps trying to be a part of team arrow and try to get his attention away from Felicity, and he keeps getting aggravated. And just exclaims that he loves Felicity and everyone hears him._  
> [kristenroseann](http://kristenroseann.tumblr.com/) asked: _"No, you don't get to talk to her like that" said by Oliver_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't like Laurel. If you haven't figured out that yet. _ugh, no_

It was weird, Laurel being there so much. It felt weird to Oliver. He felt watched, more often than not catching Laurel’s eyes on him. He acted differently, not just towards her, but towards Felicity, Roy and Diggle too. It was involuntary. He was stiffer, he often found himself holding back, either on the banter with Roy, references to past jobs with Digg or with touching Felicity, or teasing her, bypassing the little amount of fun they’d allow themselves to have.

He wasn’t the only one doing it, Digg and Roy were reluctant to welcome her in too. They never said anything, but Oliver saw that they were doing the same thing he was. Holding back, not saying things, keeping their distance. Not Felicity, though. She acted exactly the same, still being sarcastic and inappropriate, still working efficiently, still whining about how messy they were. She acted the same towards Laurel, too, open and kind.

Oliver didn’t really understand why he did it, but he couldn’t stop. As much as he had a history with Laurel, things were different now. They were friends, no romantic undertones left. And since she found out his secret and insisted on helping, Oliver thought it will get better. That he will get better, that he wouldn’t need to lie to Laurel anymore, that he could be himself around her, even down in the lair.

He was wrong.

ЙȰ

Laurel was there a lot. Not from the beginning, it took a couple of months to get the secondary lair up and functioning, after Oliver got the company and his assets back. And after that, it took a couple of weeks for Oliver to agree to let her know their new location. But after he did, Laurel was there a lot. Every night after she was done with work, on weekends, when she had a day off. Oliver understood it, with Sara gone and her father going back to work after his injury, she probably felt lonely. So she came in the lair, but the more time she spent there, the more Oliver noticed how off things were. It was little things at first, that grew in significance over time.

ЙȰ

She started bringing him coffee. His usual latte from Starbucks, every time she came by. Laurel usually had a cup herself too, but she never brought anything for the rest of them, never once has she called to ask if Felicity, Roy or Diggle wanted anything.

She asked Oliver to train her. First, it was just the self-defense she already knew, a form of practicing and working out. But after a while, she wanted to learn offence moves too. So Laurel started training with Digg and Roy too, and John took her out to a shooting range, sometimes, for practice. And one night, Oliver came back to the lair to find Roy teaching her how to shoot his bow. He was doing it all wrong, so Oliver stepped in.

Laurel never trained at the same time Felicity did, though. Even if it would have made more sense, because they were equally strong, and because, fighting wise, they were at the same level of skill. They never talked about it, but on the days when Laurel came down with a gym bag, Felicity always found some updates to be made or something else she needed to take care of.

After a couple of weeks of this, Oliver noticed that Roy and Diggle were better in dealing with Laurel. They didn’t seem to hold back as much, for which Oliver was proud. Felicity was her usual self, but he found himself looking closely at how Laurel treated her.

She was cold. Felicity always smiled at her, and tried to start a conversation, but Laurel wouldn’t have it. She brushed Felicity off, even if she did it somewhat politely. If they’d all be talking, about a job or anything else, Laurel never acknowledged anything Felicity said.

They’d get dinner, sometimes. It would always be Felicity’s idea, so she usually was the one to drive to get it, with either Roy or Diggle. If Laurel was there, she’d always request something complicated, and act like she was placing an order in a bar, asking Felicity if she didn’t want to write it down.

Laurel didn’t seem to respect the rules Felicity had for the lair. They all did, because the few requests were reasonable and understandable, and Oliver was the one who told Laurel about them. But she ignored them. She changed the settings on Felicity’s computers, she left her heels lying around, she didn’t put back the equipment she used while training. Laurel constantly interrupted Felicity when she was working on something important, and even though doing that always ended in yelling matches for one of the men, Felicity never once said anything to Laurel.

ЙȰ

There were moments when Oliver thought of saying something to Laurel.

Like when Felicity asked her about how Detective Lance was doing, and Laurel became very defensive and didn’t give away any information. Oliver wanted to tell Laurel how Felicity cared about her father, how they have worked together in the past and how there was a weird respect shared between them. He didn’t, and Felicity didn’t ask again.

He wanted to say something to Laurel when she refused to train with Felicity. It was Diggle who suggested it, and Felicity was okay with it. Laurel wouldn’t have it, arguing that it’s more likely that they’ll get attacked by big, strong men, not other women. Felicity agreed with her argument and that was the end of it.

Oliver wanted to say something one night, when he was training Laurel, working on her aim with the bow. She was holding it wrong, and he knew she was doing it on purpose, because he has seen her before, properly holding the bow and properly shooting it. But tonight, Laurel wasn’t focusing.

So firstly, he tried showing her again, the way he did it. Oliver shot an arrow straight in the middle of the target, and Laurel quickly hugged him afterwards, running her nails down his back. That gesture made Oliver want to speak to her, because before the island, that was their code for ‘let’s leave and have sex’.

But Oliver didn’t get a chance to talk to her, because Laurel was grabbing the crossbow out of his arms and aiming at the target. She shot the arrow, but she missed. Instead of the target, Laurel hit Felicity’s (thankfully) empty mug. The mug Oliver got for her, the mug that had a cute drawing of a wolf at a computer, the mug he saw and couldn’t not buy it for Felicity.

He wanted to say something to Laurel, but she was quick to apologize and Felicity was quick to accept it, brushing it off. Then her computer buzzed, with a robbery in progress at Starling Bank and Oliver and Roy were out of the Foundry in minutes, while Felicity called Diggle and told him to meet them there.

ЙȰ

After everything was done, the men muted their microphones and headed back to the lair, but Felicity didn’t shut the comm links. So they heard everything Laurel told her. Oliver doesn’t remember a time he was this angry. He sped towards the lair, Roy and Digg following close behind, but he still didn’t get there in time.

‘I don’t get why you’re here.’, Laurel started, disgust in her voice.

‘What?’, Felicity asked after a beat.

‘I mean, yes, sure, you’re smart. And somewhat cute and funny. But that doesn’t explain to me why Oliver keeps you around. All day, every day.’

‘Uh’, Felicity stammered. ‘I help him with-‘

‘I know. But it’s not like you’re the only one who could help him. I’m sure there are better people. You’re really not that good of a secretary.’

‘I’m his EA, not his secretary.’

Laurel snorted. ‘And that still doesn’t explain why you’re here. _Here_ , with the Arrow.’

‘I can-‘

‘There must be people better than you at the whole hacking business.’

‘Yeah, well’, Felicity’s voice came through a lot more strongly than before, ‘he trusts me.’

‘And why is that?’, Laurel laughed, bitterly. ‘Even before the island, Oliver wasn’t too big on trust. And after it, we all know that it’s almost impossible for Oliver to trust anybody.’

‘Apparently not’, Felicity spitted out, and Oliver could her the rage in her voice. Laurel's tone was mocking and superior, and Felicity was absolutely pissed. He was 2 minutes out, and he still pushed the pedal to the floor.

‘I don’t think you’re that important’, Laurel chuckled. ‘I think you’re pretty replaceable.’

‘And I don’t think your opinion counts for much’, Felicity sighed, and Oliver wordlessly agreed with her, just as he was getting off his bike.

Digg and Roy quickly got out of the car, and John shot him a look. ‘I am not responsible for my actions.’, was all he said. Roy and Oliver agreed.

‘It’s hilarious’, Laurel was saying, as they made their way down the stairs, ‘That you think you’re more important than me. I’ve known Oliver for years, I have loved him for years. And what, you think you can come around, flip your hair and parade your legs and he’ll fall into your bed? He’s not like that anymore.’

‘I don’t-‘, Felicity tried, but Laurel wouldn’t let her.

‘It’s never going to work, Felicity. You’re just some blonde that Oliver uses. That’s all you’ll ever be.’

‘You do not get to talk to her like that’, Oliver roared, finally in their line of sight. He threw his bow and quiver on the ground, and he saw Roy getting them.

Laurel was angry, her cheeks were red and there was a fire in her eyes. But Oliver spent more time watching Felicity, who was leaning against her desk, hands crossed and head turned down. He stopped between the two women, glaring at Laurel. Digg was by his side, and Roy made his way next to Felicity, gently knocking their shoulders. But it was Oliver that spoke next, as Laurel was looking at him with anger, only anger, no trace of remorse.

‘You have no idea what you’re talking about, and you have no right to talk to Felicity like that.’

‘I have every right!’, she argued. ‘I am the only woman in your life right now who cares.  Moira’s dead and Thea’s gone. I am the only one who knows you, Ollie, and this isn’t like you, she isn’t like you.’

‘You really don’t know what you’re talking about’, Digg said, slowly.

‘So tell me’, Laurel laughed, pointing a finger at Oliver. ‘Please, enlighten me as to why you keep around a blonde with questionable human skills and-‘

‘Stop’, Oliver yelled forcefully. ‘Stop it.’

‘Tell me’, she insisted.

Oliver sighed. ‘Felicity’, he said softly, never taking his eyes off Laurel. ‘How many times did you help me, when the Arrow saved Laurel?’

There was a pause. ‘Every time?’, it came out as a question.

Oliver nodded. ‘Pretty much.’

‘How?’, Laurel frowned, looking at Felicity. ‘Since when did you know?’

‘Since Moira shot him and I found him bleeding on my car’s back seat.’

She faltered at that, but quickly shook herself.

‘Why do you do it?’, Laurel asked Oliver. ‘Why do you keep her around, why do you bring her coffee and accept all the stupid things that come out of her mouth? Why do you protect her this much, you killed for her. Why?’

She was so angry. And Oliver was very tired, of everything, of people assuming things about Felicity, of people degrading her, of people assuming things about them, of Laurel. He was so tired of Laurel.

‘Because she deserves it. And I love her.’

Laurel scoffed. ‘Oh stop lying. That particular lie ended with Slade.’

Oliver sighed and shook his head. ‘Because I’m in love with her.’

He never said the words out loud before. He said them in the mansion, but they weren’t true, it was a scam. But they felt true, to Oliver, the moment they left his mouth. He didn’t question it after that. But he didn’t tell anyone either. But now, he was so very tired. He just wanted Laurel to go away.

She must have read something, in the way he said it, because Laurel took a step back, mouth falling open. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, and Oliver stared right back, praying to every god known to man that it will make Laurel shut up.

‘I cannot believe you’, she finally spat out. ‘You’re choosing her? Over me?’

That made Oliver pause. He blinked a couple of times, not believing that Laurel actually said that, that she actually expected him to run to her. After everything, she still thought they could work.

‘I love you, Laurel’, he said. ‘I always have and I always will. But we’re toxic for each other. You _know_ that.’

She shook her. ‘You’re choosing Felicity. Over me.’

‘Yes’, Oliver said, easily.

‘How?’, Laurel hissed.

‘I love her.’

Laurel sighed and turned toward Felicity. ‘You don’t have anything to say to that?’

‘Nope’, Oliver heard Felicity say, filled with amusement. That made him turn towards her, and she was already watching him, smiling softly.

‘It’s not news’, she snickered.

He raised an eyebrow.

‘You were never able to lie to me, Oliver’, Felicity said softly.

‘I wasn’t lying.’

‘I know.’, she chucked. ‘Because if you were, I would’ve known. I was just waiting for you to get with the program.’

Felicity winked at him and Oliver found himself smiling.

He didn’t stop looking at her, smiling at her, not even when he heard Laurel huffing and puffing as he made her way out of the lair.

Not when he heard Diggle sigh, deeply, muttering _finally_ under his breath.

Not when Roy snorted and said that he never liked Laurel. Not when he looked between the two of them and sighed.

‘The heart eyes are gonna get worse from now on, aren’t they?’

‘Yup’, Digg answered him. ‘We should leave them to it.’

They were gone in the next minute, and Oliver finally moved, rushing to pick Felicity up and wrap her around himself as best as he could.


	43. Andy's Godparents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @LisaAthanassiou asked: _Oliver and Felicity are godparents to Diggle and Lyla’s baby !!!_

When Digg told them that Lyla was pregnant, Felicity squealed and promptly started crying. Oliver was in shock for most of it, but when she threw him a pointed glare, he snapped out of it and hugged Digg too, congratulating him all the while.

A few months later, it was Lyla who asked them to be the godparents of their unborn child, during a late dinner in Felicity’s kitchen. Once again, Oliver was in shock for most of it, with Felicity crying silently on his shoulder, while Digg and Lyla explained why they came to this decision. Oliver was quick to agree, though. And so was Felicity, grabbing his hand under the table, nodding and promising the future parents that they’re going to be the best godparents a kid could have.

Two months later, they were in a hospital room, looking down at Lyla holding her baby boy, with Digg fussing over both of them. Felicity cried, again. And again, Oliver froze. He heard everybody making fun of his expression, but he still couldn’t move.

Then, Felicity took the baby from Lyla’s hands. Slowly, so slowly, and carefully, cradling him on her elbow, making sure to support his head. She gently arranged the blanket over him, so that she could see his face.

Oliver never saw Felicity like this. Smiling so brightly and lovingly, she was still crying, but her eyes had a flash to them, of happiness and excitement, that he’s never seen before, that he wanted to keep there for as long as possible.

‘Snap out of it, Oliver’, she said softly, never taking her eyes off the baby. ‘And get in here and kiss your godchild.’

He did just that, hurrying around the room and stopping in front of Felicity. He absently put a hand on her shoulder and ran his fingers over the little boy’s face. He was asleep, he didn’t even stir when Oliver’s big fingers touched his warm skin.

‘He’s beautiful’, Oliver managed to breath out, not looking away.

‘Damn right’, Digg chuckled behind him, loud and proud.

‘Do you want to hold Andy?’, Felicity whispered, and when Oliver looked up, she was looking at him, small smile on her face.

He shook his head and absently wiped a tear off her face. ‘No, he looks better in your arms anyway.’

⌂

The next day, he found himself at the mall, walking straight into H&M. He was following Felicity, of course, who was confidently navigating the store.

‘Why are we here?’, he asked for what felt like the billionth time. ‘We can afford better stores’.

Felicity stopped and turned around to face him, sighing and shaking her head.

‘I know we can afford better stores, and we will go to better stores, fancier stores, and we will buy Andy fancier things, but we’re here because these are cute.’

Oliver scoffed.

‘They are’, Felicity insisted, grabbing his hand. ‘And they’re good quality, because nobody makes bad quality baby clothes. Now come on, we don’t have that much time.’

‘We have two hours’, Oliver whined, but he let her drag him away.

‘Exactly.’

Oliver was suddenly slightly afraid, because he has never been with Felicity shopping. And now, her expression of determination was similar to the one she had when she was hacking into ARGUS.

⌂

20 minutes later, Oliver was baffled.

He was also in the middle of the baby section in H&M, hands full of baby clothes. He was struggling to keep up with Felicity, who was running around all over the place.

He thought this was going to be easy, because he thought they won’t have a big selection of baby things. He was wrong.

And Felicity was enjoying it. She kept _awwh_ ing out loud every now and then, grabbing things and putting them down when she saw they were too big. She asked for Oliver’s opinion, more often than not, because this was supposed to be a joint-gift, but it wasn’t like he could say much.

His responds consisted of ‘yes’ more often than ‘no’, and ‘find a different color’. But Felicity always asked, and she always listened to whatever he had to say.

And he had to admit, all the things Felicity chose, all the tiny baby clothes he was struggling to hold, Oliver liked them. They were adorable, and fun, and he was sure Digg and Lyla were going to like them, too.

Something caught his eye, and he grinned when he saw what it was. Felicity wasn’t by his side, so he called out her name. She was there quickly, and he felt forced to wrap a hand around her shoulders to turn her around.

Felicity laughed when she saw the rack in front of them.

‘You want to buy Andy Superman pajamas?’

‘Yup’, Oliver grinned.

‘Because Superman is awesome or because we can’t find Arrow pajamas?’

Oliver pouted. ‘I’ll find Arrow pajamas. I’ll make them myself if I have to’, he mumbled. ‘But until then, we’re buying them the Superman pajamas.’

‘Of course we are’, Felicity said seriously, quickly checking the sizes and grabbing one of the rack. Then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, giggling.

‘What was that for?’, Oliver smiled down at her.

‘I think you’re getting the hang of this godfathering business’, Felicity grinned.

‘We’re at day 2.’

‘Yup, and you’re doing great. Maybe next time, you’ll be brave enough to even hold him.’

Oliver just scoffed and head towards the check out.

⌂

He let Felicity pay for the clothes and at the Starbucks run they did after the shopping, and he paid for the car seat they decided on.

As he was driving them back to the lair, Oliver found himself asking Felicity if she wanted kids. She froze, cup of coffee halfway up, looking at him with wide eyes. The fear was gone in a second, and she shrugged.

‘Someday I do. But I’m not in a hurry. It has to be at a good time.’ Then, she rolled her eyes. ‘Plus, you know, I’m not against adoption or anything, but I think I’d want my kid to have a dad, considering I know what it’s like not to.’

‘You look good with Andy in your arms’, Oliver smiled.

‘You said that yesterday too.’, Felicity nodded. ‘It still feels weird to hear you say it.’

Oliver shrugged. ‘I don’t think I’ll stop saying it.’

‘Yeah’, she nodded again, ‘you’re definitely gonna hold him next time we see him.’

⌂

And he does. Two weeks later, when Felicity offers to swing over to Digg’s apartment, to cook them something because they must be tired of take out, Oliver joins her.

And he holds Andy, sitting on the couch with Lyla by his side. She tells him how to put his hand under his butt, and the other under his head. And Oliver listens to her, even though he’s terrified that he’s going to crush the poor baby, but he doesn’t. And Andy’s awake, looking up at him with big, wide eyes, but he doesn’t cry.

So Oliver smiles, and bends down to blow a raspberry on the baby’s tummy. Andy doesn’t protest much, but he does tug at Oliver’s hair, just as he hears the shutter of a camera going off. Sure enough, he finds Felicity with her phone still in her hands, grinning widely down at them.

There’s that spark again, of happiness and excitement, and this time, Oliver thinks she can see it in his eyes as well.

‘If I look good with children’, she says softly, bending down so she can run a hand over Andy’s head, ‘then you look gorgeous.’

‘You’d both look great with a kid’, Lyla startles them, making grabby hands at Andy. Oliver is quick to give him to her.

‘But you’re not getting my kid’, Lyla snickered, ‘so you better work on making one of your own. Or two’, she shrugs, ‘whatever floats your boats. Team Arrow needs more mascots, and come on, your kid will most likely have blue eyes and curly hair, it’ll definitely give Andy a run for cutest baby ever.’

Oliver froze, and Felicity started laughing. They didn’t mention it again, until a late night 3 years later, when they were buried under the sheets and tangled with one another. Felicity suggested they should give Andy a playing partner, and Oliver grinned, his heart exploding under her fingertips. He didn't answer, not with words, but he did urge his wife to start working on it.


	44. I know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [zonabe](http://zonabe.tumblr.com/) asked: _Arrow prompt for you: Felicity finds out that Oliver has a child that he doesn't even know about. Does he already know? Does she tell him? (as per ep 2.19 Seeing Red)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a lovely prompt, and I don't think I've done it justice. Truth be told, it has been standing in my ask box for a very long time. Because I honestly do not know how Oliver is going to react to him having a child. I have no idea.  
> So here, have something fast and half-assed, just for the sake of it. Sorry.

She’s at home when the information comes to her. Honestly, she doesn’t even remember how she got there, but the transaction transcripts are mocking her from the laptop’s monitor.

Moira paid a girl one million dollars, right after she moved from Starling to Central City. 8 months later, the girl had a child. The birth certificate didn’t feature a father, but her bank account featured another million dollars, courtesy of Moira.

The idea comes to Felicity so quick, it makes her loose her footing. Which is saying something, considering she’s sitting on a chair. But the idea doesn’t want to leave, so Felicity searches, everywhere she can think of. And she finds some old facebook pictures, of Oliver and the girl. They’re dancing, in a club, and they’re grinning at the camera from behind whisky glasses.

It doesn’t prove anything. But then she looks at more recent pictures of the girl, of the woman, and the kid looks like Oliver. He has his strong jaw, and blue eyes, but her dark hair. And Felicity’s insides turn.

Oliver has a child. An 8 year old kid, that he doesn’t know about. She needs to tell him. But this would be the second time that Felicity told Oliver a secret so grave, it will make him turn to darkness. Again.

↕

Felicity spends the night crying. She doesn’t sleep, at all, just curls into a ball in the middle of her bed and cries and cries and cries. For Oliver. Her heart breaks, over and over again, for the man she loves, and it takes an awful lot of strength to get out of bed.

She texts Oliver, asking him to meet her earlier at the lair. He accepts, and doesn’t ask questions. She texts Roy and Diggle, telling them to get there late. Diggle doesn’t ask questions, but Roy does. She doesn't text him back.

Oliver is there already when she comes down the stairs, and he freezes at the sight of her. She looks awful, clearly. Felicity couldn’t concentrate enough to pick good clothes, so she’s wearing a pair of leggings and an over sized jumper. Her eyes are red and puffy, and she started crying again the moment she saw him. Her hair is a mess and she doesn’t care.

‘What’s wrong?’, Oliver asks, concerned, so concerned, reaching for her.

She flinches away and he startles, so she starts talking.

The words don’t register, though, and she can barely think. But Felicity tells Oliver everything. How she stumbled upon the information, how she researched her to make sure, how she’s sorry, so sorry.

He just lets her speak. She’s crying, and he’s looking at her with eyes wide. But that’s the only reaction he has, much like when Felicity told him about Moira.

Oliver’s staring at her, and he seems lost, so lost, and Felicity just wants to fix it. She needs to fix it, to fix him, but she doesn’t know how.

‘I’m sorry’, she ends with a sob.

And then, Oliver’s hugging her. With a hand on her shoulders and one in her hair, holding her tightly and shushing her. Felicity clings to him, buries her hands in his Henley and tries to catch her breath.

She doesn’t know how much time they stay like that, but when Oliver talks, he’s whispering, gently petting her hair.

‘I know.’

Felicity feels her heart drop, once again. She detaches herself from him and takes a step back, but he doesn’t let go, he grabs her hand and squeezes it tightly.

‘I know’, he repeats in a steady voice, but still whispering. ‘Last month, when I was in Central City meeting with Barry, I ran into her, in a coffee shop, of all things.’

He takes a deep breath and looks at her, wiping the tears away from her face as he starts talking again.

‘His name is Connor and he looks just like me. That’s how I figured it out.’

Oliver shakes his head and brings his other hand to hold onto Felicity’s.

‘We talked and figured it out. She doesn’t want anything from me.’, he chuckles, and Felicity’s heart breaks, again, because it sounds hollow.

‘She’s married, and happy. Connor knows he’s not his father, but he doesn’t know about me. We agreed, I’ll stay away. And she’ll tell him when he’s older, 16 or 18. If he wants to look for me then, she’ll let him.’

Oliver takes another deep breath and swallows hard. ‘We talked to my lawyer, I signed the papers two weeks ago.’

Felicity has trouble breathing. She’s still crying, and she doesn’t believe him. He sounded strong and determined, almost cold. It’s not right.

‘How?’, she whispers. ‘How can you be okay with that?’

‘I’m not a father, Felicity’, he smiles. ‘Look around you. I’m as far away from a father that I’ve ever been.’

‘No’, she shakes her head. ‘No, you’re not. You’re loving and caring, and you’d do anything to protect those you love. That’s what a father is, that’s what-‘

‘No’, he stops her. ‘I’m not a father, I can’t be a father now. But it’s okay. This is okay. She was a mistake on my part, I was with Laurel then and I didn’t know what my mother did. I just got a phone call telling me she lost the baby and I was happy about that. I… I still am.’

‘I don’t understand’, Felicity whispered, frustrated.

It made him smile. ‘If I would’ve been there, when she had Connor, it would have ruined my life. Granted, my life was ruined by something else, something that maybe wouldn’t have happened if I was there then, but…’

He didn’t go on, silently shaking his head and looking at her. He was begging her to understand, and she didn’t.

‘Don’t you want kids?’

‘I do’, Oliver didn’t miss a beat in answering. ‘But not now. I’m not good enough for that now.’

He squeezed her hand and brought it up to his lips, lightly kissing her knuckles.

‘And not with _her_. I want a baby, I want to see it grow, I want it with the woman I love, not an 8 year old, who lives in another city with a woman I don’t know anything about.’

She didn’t say anything, she couldn’t. But Oliver tucked her close, hugging her again. Felicity melted into it, feeling her tears finally subsiding.

‘I’m okay’, he whispered in her hair. ‘I’m okay with this.’

‘Are you sure?’, she needed to hear it again.

‘Yes’, Oliver chuckled. ‘Positive.’

Felicity nodded and took a step back when she heard the door open, Digg and Roy coming down the stairs.

‘What’s happening?’, Digg asked, concern seeping through his voice.

‘Nothing’, Felicity breathed out, finally stepping away from Oliver’s arms and wiping away at her face. ‘Everything’s okay.’

‘No’, Oliver shook his head and grabbed her hand again. He maneuvered her until they were standing side by side, hands locked between them.

Then, he started talking. Telling Digg and Roy everything, about his mother and Thea, about Merlyn, about Connor. Felicity started crying again, at some point. But Oliver didn’t let go of her hand.

When he was done, Digg was the first one to open his mouth. But Oliver didn’t let him.

‘It’s okay’, he interrupted, a small smile on his face. ‘I promise, it’s okay. I’m okay. I don’t think Thea is, but I am.’

Then, surprising absolutely everyone, Roy lunched forward, hugging Felicity. He was holding her tightly, too tightly, bruising her skin, but she didn’t care. Not when Roy kissed the top of her head and told her that he hated seeing beautiful girls cry.


	45. Felicity vs. Sherlock Holmes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _I'm not sure if your still doing prompts but maybe one of how things would go if felicity met Sherlock because let's be honest their both impressive and geniuses._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not _exactly_ what you wished for, because I um kinda it slipped... Remember that scene in BBC's Sherlock (because ofc that's the one I used) when he sees Irene naked and he just ??!!!!??. Yeah. Felicity's not naked tho. Heh.

When Felicity got the call, she had to pause to take a deep breath. She knew who Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were. Not many Americans did, but she did, she’s been following doctor Watson’s blog for years now, since he first moved in with Sherlock. She knew about everything they’ve been through, especially over the past months, since the detective's return.

She cried tears of joy when Sherlock Holmes came back from the dead. She regularly checked Watson’s blog, giddy with the excitement of reading a new case. And now, she was on the phone with him, avidly listening to him explain why Sherlock and he needed to speak with Oliver, something about a case, that he wasn’t comfortable enough to disclose on the phone.

Of course, Felicity was quick to agree, writing them into Oliver’s schedule only a couple of hours later. She then explained to Oliver who they were, and he watched her with a smile on his face the whole time.

‘Are you fangirling right now? Is that it?’, he teased her.

‘Shut up’, she pouted. ‘Yes, now shut up and get back to work.’

Hours later, when she heard the elevator doors ding, Felicity clamped down on the lump that formed in her throat and stood up from her chair, straightening her dress and smiling as big as she could.

‘Mister Holmes, Doctor Watson, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’, she said as they made their way towards her.

They were even better in real life. The photos didn’t do them justice, they were both beautiful men, very well dressed and holding themselves high, but Felicity would be lying if she didn’t admit that it was Sherlock who made her knees go week.

She lost herself in his eyes for a few seconds, in his curls, in his lips, in his jaw. In the way his shirt was unbuttoned at the top, in the way he was holding himself, hands behind his back and head high. He was absolutely gorgeous and Felicity felt very hot all of a sudden.

Sherlock was also looking at her, his eyes roaming all over. Felicity’s face, her body, her hands, everything. She felt herself blush, but she didn’t say anything, she tried to be as relaxed as possible, because she knew what he was doing.

He was analyzing her, and she let him, curious of what he will find.

But Sherlock didn’t say anything, he frowned and turned towards his friend. He did the same thing to him for a couple of seconds, eyes roaming everywhere, making Watson raise his eyebrows, and then Sherlock turned to Felicity once again, repeating the process. He still didn’t say anything.

The doctor broke the awkward silence, after looking at Sherlock and Felicity a couple of times.

‘We didn’t catch your name’, he smiled, politely.

‘Oh, right’, she blinked. ‘I’m Felicity. Felicity Smoak. Mr. Queen’s EA.’

‘Right’, Watson nodded. ‘We have an appointment with him.’

‘Of course’, Felicity shook herself out of it and started walking towards Oliver’s office.

The men followed, and introductions were made, and Felicity found herself gulping when Sherlock shook Oliver’s hand and she saw his fingers. She excused herself, knowing that they wouldn’t want her to stick for the conversation, but Sherlock stopped her.

‘Wait’, he said forcefully. ‘You should stay. I think you’ll be helpful.’

Felicity blushed, but nodded and came back, sitting down on the couch next to Oliver. Sherlock kept his eyes on her the whole time.

‘Are there cameras here? Microphones?’, was the first thing he asked.

‘Yes’, Oliver blinked. ‘Just a video feed.’

‘So nobody can hear our conversation.’, Sherlock insisted.

Felicity shook her head. ‘No. I can shut down the cameras if you want, too.’

‘That won’t be necessary’, Watson said, with a pointed look towards Sherlock. ‘I don’t know if you’re aware of what happened in London these past years-‘

‘Oh we’re aware’, Oliver interrupted. ‘She’s a fan’, he looked towards Felicity with a grin.

She didn’t hesitate in slapping him playfully on the knee, ignoring the blush she knew she had on her face. ‘What’s this about?’, she asked Watson.

‘James Moriarty’, he answered gravely, making her shiver.

‘I cannot believe he’s alive. Is he alive?’, she frowned, ‘Or is it a very impressive copy cat? Or one of his followers, maybe?’

Watson blinked. ‘We don’t know.’

‘What does this have to do with us?’, Oliver frowned.

‘We tracked down Sebastian Moran to Starling City’, the doctor explained, when he saw that Sherlock wasn’t going to say anything. He was still looking between Felicity and Oliver, a frown on his face.

‘He’s one of Moriarty’s known associates, and we found out that he was involved with Isabel Rochev.’

‘Crap’, Felicity swore, while Oliver sighed.

‘Was Moran involved in the events Rochev orchestrated?’, he asked.

Watson shook his head. ‘We only found a connection between Moran and Rochev, nothing about Slade Wilson.’

‘We came here for information on Rochev’, Sherlock said, looking at Oliver. ‘But I think we’ll require your expertise as The Arrow.’

Felicity froze, but Oliver simply raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not the Arrow’.

Sherlock shook his head, a small smirk on his face. ‘Yes you are. You disappeared the same time intervals as the Arrow, you’re the only one who knows what happened to you on that island, learning archery and combat doesn’t seem so far stretched. Plus, you have the bank account for it, the Arrow has had multiple run-ins with people closely connected to you. You also have a small limp in your right leg, that is consistent with the footage of the Arrow capturing a pair of robbers last night. And you’re rubbing your fingers together, just like you would when making the end of a rudimentary arrow.’

Felicity didn’t say anything, turning around to see Oliver. And she couldn’t help it, she started laughing because of the expression of pure shock that was on his face. But Sherlock interrupted her.

‘And you’re helping him.’ At her stare, he actually smiles. ‘I’ve suspected it, I would assume most people have after your run-in with The Count, but you proved it today. Because the way you two act like around one another, isn’t one of two people who work together. You’ve been his EA for a long time, even if you’re over qualified, and your relationship could only be explained by spending a lot of time together, sometimes under life or death situations.’

Felicity swallowed.

‘Or you could be sleeping with each other.’, Sherlock added. Looking at Oliver.

‘Which you’re clearly not’, he nodded a beat after.

Oliver was still staring at Sherlock, a very wild expression on his face, so Felicity was the first one to recover. She absently patted Oliver’s knee, as she bent forward in her seat, smiling at Sherlock.

‘Really?’, Watson was frowning at her.

She nodded and took a deep breath.

‘I’ve been trying to track down Moriarty since he came back. And so has ARGUS, at your brother’s insistence.’ Sherlock nodded.

‘They haven’t found anything yet, and the only thing I could dig up was the fact that he used an MI6 server to hack the video feeds.’

‘So someone at MI6 is working for Moriarty?’ Watson frowned.

‘Not necessarily.’, Felicity shook her head. ‘I think it’s more probable that he hacked into their network, piggybacking it to hack into the feeds. I’m pretty sure he would have made himself untraceable even without that, but this way, the British authorities were reminded about how dangerous he is, right?’

She turned toward Sherlock. ‘It’s surprisingly easy to hack into MI6s servers. ARGUS has safer programming, you should tell your brother to copy their software.’

Sherlock raised an eyebrow. ‘But you hacked into ARUGS as well.’

‘Nothing is unhackable.’, she smiled. ‘Some things just take more time and brain power.’

‘You’re seriously overqualified for an EA job’, Watson said, in a low voice, making Oliver and Felicity share an amused look.

‘That’s seriously not my main job, these days’, she settled on saying. ‘And on that note. I’ll look for Moran and expand my searches for Moriarty. The connection with Rochev should help, I copied all the information she had on her computers after she died.’

‘You did?’, Oliver frowned.

‘D’uh’, she raised an eyebrow, making him pout.

‘You’d do that for us?’, Watson asked slowly.

Felicity tilted her head. ‘Of course. If you keep the Arrow’s identity for yourselves. And my involvement with him. Too many people know already, the management of it is getting really frustrating.’

‘Of course’, Sherlock quickly agreed, standing up and extending his hand towards Oliver. ‘Your secret is safe with us, Mr. Queen. And Miss Smoak’, he paused to kiss the back of her hand, his lips lingering for a few moments too long. ‘Thank you for your assistance.’

As they left, Felicity fell down back on the couch, covering her face with her hands. She was blushing and there were butterflies in her stomach, and she knew for sure she was going to dream of long fingers and blue eyes that night. She stayed like that for a few moments, and when she managed to catch back her breath and take her hands down, Oliver was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

‘Really? He doesn’t seem like your type.’

‘He’s everyone’s type.’, she said quickly. ‘It’s just that nobody is his type. I think he’s asexual.’

Oliver narrowed his eyes, not looking convinced. ‘It didn’t look like that from where I was standing.’

‘I… What?’, she spluttered.

He just raised an eyebrow and stared her down.

‘Shut up’, Felicity spluttered some more, heading back to her desk, ignoring Oliver’s chuckles.

She stopped short when she found Sherlock’s business card sticking through her keyboard. It had the name of a hotel and a room number written on the back.


	46. Uh, baby.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Felicity loves when Oliver calls her "baby''_.  
>  aka five times Oliver calls Felicity _baby_ and doesn't mean it, and one time he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I haven't updated in a while, I apologize for that. I had some stuff to do, and I'm still not done with them, so there's that. Sorry. But uhm. Here's like... 2 paragraphs of smut to make it better? :)

**→One: it’s undercover**

The first time it happens, Felicity doesn’t even bat an eye. Her heart skips a beat, sure, but she doesn’t address it, because it doesn’t matter.

She is currently with Oliver in Athens, attending a party thrown by one of Starling’s finest, Andrew Goodwarn, who spends the summers here. Team Arrow was gathering information about him for a couple of months now, and it all came to the conclusion that he was smuggling young women into Greece, and selling them on the black market there.

It made Felicity’s stomach turn, so of course she was quick to agree to the plan. Oliver would easily get in to the party, and Felicity will be his plus one, Diggle and Roy providing back up from the shadows, while she used her skills to hack into the main frame and try to get information.

Everything was going well. They got in, the comms were working, Felicity’s dress was very appropriate with the scene, the champagne was good, they shouldn’t encounter any problems on their way to a computer, the place wasn’t very guarded.

But then, Goodwarn made his way towards them. After he introduced himself and shook hands with both Oliver and Felicity, he not so subtly asked what they were doing there.

Felicity froze, but Oliver didn’t even pause, he put on his playboy smile and wrapped a hand around her waist, explaining to Goodwarn that they’re on vacation.

‘As far away from Starling as possible’, Oliver chuckled. ‘You know how it is, about CEOs and their assistants’, he winked at Goodwarn, while squeezing Felicity’s hip reassuringly. ‘Isn’t that right, baby?’

His tone was sweet, playful, a condescending smirk on his lips. But Felicity saw the uncertainty in it, because he didn’t do this anymore, not after Slade. She understood it, but they were on a mission, an important one. So Felicity leaned into Oliver, sighing deeply.

‘Yes’, she told Goodwarn, ‘people gossip way too much. We hate it.’

He nodded, wishing them a nice vacation, and 30 minutes later, they were all back at the hotel. Felicity was drinking a fruity cocktail by the pool, while Oliver and Diggle were looking over the information they got.

Roy made his way towards her, whistling appreciatively at her bathing suit, sitting down at the end of her lounge chair.  

‘I was expecting to hear your loud voice’, he whispered, ‘after the stunt Oliver pulled.’

Felicity shrugged. ‘It worked.’

‘So you have no problems with Oliver calling you _baby_?’

‘It was the job, Roy’, she sighed, ‘it’s not like he’s going to call me that all the time.’

‘I really hope so’, he shook his head. ‘I can barely stand the sexual tension as it is now.’

Felicity glared, but she didn’t say anything. Still, she made sure to let Roy know why she pushed him in the pool half an hour later.

**→Two: it’s the alcohol**

Even though Queen Consolidated has been back in Oliver’s hands for months, they only just managed to get Verdant back. When they did, after cleaning and stocking everything back up, Oliver was pretty adamant in throwing a party for everybody at QC. Felicity helped him, firstly hiring a manager for the club, and then organizing the party with him. But when the evening came, she wasn’t really in the mood for it, so she made the rounds she had to, made sure Oliver was staying behind, and excused herself.

Of course she went downstairs, to the Foundry. Even though they weren’t using as their base anymore, it was still there, for their basic needs if the situation ever appeared. So Felicity pushed the cot in front of the computers, took of her heels, settled in under a blanket and opened her Netflix account.

Roy woke her up a couple of hours later. She was disoriented, but he was patient with her, talking slowly and handing Felicity her glasses.

‘The boss is drunk, and he won’t leave until he sees you.’

Felicity scoffed, Oliver never got drunk. She barely saw him drink alcohol, she never saw him drunk, not even a little tipsy. Still, when she made her way upstairs, with Roy following close behind, she found Oliver sitting on the bar, dangling his feet, grinning.

‘Felicity!’, he yelled, clapping his hands twice.

‘Oliver’, she nodded, weary, making her way towards him. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes! So okay, I am so okay, everything is very okay. We have the company, the club, the lair, the cars.  I have an apartment and I have you guys!’

He was talking fast, his grin never slipping from his face. His eyes were glassy and his cheeks were red. Felicity could barely look away. When she did, she looked to John, who was barely managing to hold back his laughter.

Felicity stopped when she was next to him, gently putting her hand on Oliver’s knee. When she looked up, he was still grinning, looking down at her, still dangling his feet.

‘I think you should go home, Oliver.’

He whined, surprising everyone. Then, he quickly got off the bar and stood in front of Felicity for a couple of seconds, frowning and looking down at her. Oliver whined, again, bending his body till his forehead hit Felicity’s shoulder.

‘Don’t be like that, baby, I don’t wanna go home.’ Even as he was saying that, he was still whining, but in a lower tone. Thus, the sentence came out as a whisper. It made a shiver run through Felicity’s body, and Oliver must have felt it, because he smirked and brought his hands around her waist,  bringing their bodies closer.

‘You should definitely go home’, Roy muttered, and when Felicity turned to look at him, he was glaring at Oliver with a very judgmental eyebrow raised. So was Diggle.

Felicity sighed and scratched the back of Oliver’s head. ‘Let’s get you home, okay?’, she whispered gently. ‘I’ll even stay and make pancakes in the morning.’

Oliver sighed, but he agreed. He didn’t leave without kissing Felicity’s cheek, though.

**→Three: it’s the anger**

It wasn’t the first time she wanted to go out in the field. But it was the first time after Slade. And it was the first time he wasn’t going to be there.

Oliver would be held up in meetings all day, meetings he couldn’t miss, meetings Felicity really shouldn’t miss either, but she had to, in order to catch a drug dealer as big and as dangerous as the Count.

The plan was for Felicity to get in the man’s house because of her good looks, and once there, to get a sample of the drug. Roy and Diggle (in the Arrow suit) will intervene then, and so will the SCPD. If the dealers manage to get away or destroy the drug, they’ll still have Felicity’s sample to make a cure.

It wasn’t going to be pleasant, but it was going to be easy for Felicity. She’d gladly do it, she knows she will be as safe as she could be, with Digg and Roy and the whole Narcotics department behind her back.

But Oliver still wouldn’t agree to it.

‘Wait another day’, he argued. ‘Untill I can be there.’

‘So you don’t trust Digg and Roy?’, she fought back.

‘It’s too dangerous’, he tried.

‘Not as dangerous as Slade.’

‘Felicity’, he begged. ‘Please do not do this, I have to be there, I can’t not be there. What if anything happens?’

‘Nothing’s going to happen.’

Oliver’s voice wasn’t above a whisper, he was close to her, so close, they were breathing the same air. And he didn’t take his eyes off her.

‘You don’t know that. Baby, I am begging you, don’t do this.’

Felicity didn’t even register the way he called her. She went back to the argument, to the yelling and the screaming, to trying to be rational. In the end, she didn’t back down. Oliver did, by faking food poisoning, thus getting out of the QC meetings of the day.

**→Four: it’s ironic**

It’s somewhat of a running joke, between Felicity and Diggle. Every time she meets a new guy who shows some interest, they’re both expecting Oliver to get jealous.

He didn’t disappoint this time either, but the thing was, Felicity wasn’t really interested in Howard.

Howard worked in accounting at QC, and he was around Oliver’s office quite a lot these days. Of course, so was Felicity. He seemed to take a liking in her, because he would always flirt with her, and even though she wasn’t interested, she’d flirt back, because it was a fun part of her mostly daring day at the office.

But of course, Oliver was acting jealous, much to her and Diggle’s amusement. He glared at Howard, tried to interrupt him every time he’d flirt with Felicity and when he’d leave, Oliver would be visibly sad for at least an hour after.

Felicity though he was being ridiculous. Because he never said anything, they weren’t together, not even close. Their status quo was, as always, unperturbed. So when Oliver changed his tactic, his behavior towards Howard, Felicity was glad.

Because this Oliver was fun. He teased Howard and made fun of him, but he never went too far. He wasn’t sad anymore, after Howard left, he’d be a little more cocky, but somewhat happy.

One day, Howard called her _baby_ , in the middle of a sentence. It made her pause and raise an eyebrow, but he didn’t respond. Felicity though he wasn’t even aware he did it. She was too focused on analyzing that, she didn’t even hear what Howard was saying.

But when he stopped talking, Felicity turned towards Oliver, who was watching her with a very amused expression. He batted his eyelashes and spoke in the sweetest, most flirtatious tone she ever heard from him, but it was also dripping with sarcasm.

‘Yeah, _baby_ , what do you think?’

Oliver smirked and Felicity sighed, turning around and heading towards the door.

‘I think I’m going to go get you two some coffee’.

An hour later, when she returned from Starbucks, Howard was nowhere to be seen and Oliver was grinning like a madman.

**→Five: it’s the truth serum**

Felicity freaks out when Diggle’s voice finally comes through. After he tells her what Oliver’s been shot with, it only takes 30 seconds for her to figure it out.

‘Truth serum?’, she shrieks. ‘For real?’

‘It’s not in effect yet’, Roy adds, unhelpfully. ‘We’re coming back to the lair.’

‘I’m hungry’, Oliver’s voice comes through, and it’s normal, he sounds just like he usually does, even though Felicity has never heard him say those words before.

She sighs and starts preparing bags of fluid, hot tea and peanut butter sandwiches, the best comfort food they could store in the minifridge she insisted on putting in the lair.

When they come down the stairs, Oliver is being supported by Roy, and he’s giggling. Felicity freezes, and it’s a good thing Diggle came down before them, because he gets to debrief her.

Oliver will be fine, but he is talking. A lot. As Roy puts him down on the medical table, he’s telling a story, about a 7 year old Thea running around in her mother’s heels, until she fell and broke her hand.

The moment he sees Felicity though, he stops talking and smiles. Big and so loving, it makes her heart skip a beat. And when he says her name, breathlessly, she feels her knees go week.

‘Are you hurt?’, she manages to ask, gently unzipping his hood.

‘Nope’, he grins. ‘They got me with a needle’, he frowns, ‘but I beat them up.’

Felicity nods, and focuses on taking off his jacket, trying to ignore the way he’s looking at her.

‘You’re so beautiful’, he starts. ‘You always brighten up my day, baby, with your hair and your lipstick. Your lipstick is amazing, and your dresses. I love this dress, did I ever tell you that? You look good in everything, but this is sinful. It makes me want to-‘

Felicity yelps and covers Oliver’s mouth with her hand. He frowns, but stops talking.

‘Oliver’, she says slowly. ‘You’re been injected with truth serum, remember that?’

He nods.

‘You’re saying things you wouldn’t normally say.’

He frowns, but eventually nods.

‘You speak Chinese and Russian. None of us speak Chinese or Russian, so why don’t you switch to that. Okay?’

Oliver nods, and when she takes her hand away, he instantly starts talking in Russian. Fast, and pointed, never taking his eyes off her. Smiling, and touching her, every now and then, running his fingers down her arm or shoulder.

It’s one of the longest nights in Felicity’s life.

**+1: it’s for real**

When Oliver finally gets his head out of his ass, and decides he wants to be with Felicity, he tells her they should take it slow. She agrees, and it’s good, for the first two months.

Their relationship is cute and cozy, she thinks, with late nights spent watching movies, cuddling on the couch and sharing boxes of pizza or Chinese. There’s kissing, a lot of it, and they touch each other a lot more than before.

But she can only take so long. She’s been waiting for what feels like forever, and she knows he’s thinking the same thing, judging by the long looks and even longer touches.

So Felicity takes matters into her own hands. Literally.

She waits until Oliver’s looking half asleep, spread out on her couch. She turns the tv on mute, startling him, but doesn’t say anything as she gets on her knees in front of him, spreading his feet out further, settling between them.

He tries saying her name, but it gets caught in a moan as she roughly palms him through his jeans. Felicity quickly works on his zipper, pulling the pants open and his boxers down, looking up every now and then to see Oliver looking down at her with wide eyes, mouth halfway open. He’s breathing heavily and he seems frozen in place.

Felicity loves it.

She’ll never forget the way he moans when she gets her hands around him. She doesn’t want to wait, she can’t wait anymore, but Felicity makes a point in jerking him off a few times, eyes locked together. He bites on his lip and that makes Felicity move.

When her lips touch him, he moans. When her tongue laps at the head, his head falls back. She tries to remember everything he does. The sounds, the jerky movements, the way he says her name, the way his fists sink in the couch, the way his hips are shaking, the way he keeps himself from bucking up, the growl he lets out when she moans around him. Felicity never takes her eyes off him, and when Oliver looks down at her, there’s a fire in his eyes, a fire she never saw before, a fire she put there, and that’s what keeps her going.

It doesn’t take long, and Oliver lets her know before he comes. She sucks harder then, moves her hands faster, looking up at him, never looking away. When he comes, down her throat, he doesn’t moan. He looks down at her, panting, his left hand between the couch cushions and his right hand in her hair. When he comes, he whispers ‘oh god’ three times. Then, louder, increasingly louder, he says ‘Fuck, baby, fuck.’

After he’s done, Felicity pulls back, wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and smirks up at him. ‘I never thought I’d actually like you calling me _baby_.’

Oliver doesn’t stop calling her _baby_ that night. Over and over and over again, screaming it into her pillows or whispering it into her skin.


	47. Because of the life that I lead...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [bluemorgana](http://bluemorgana.tumblr.com/) asked: _Reverse role of 2x07: Oliver knocks on Felicity’s door and she opens it, having just wrapped herself in a sheet, clearly disheveled and ravaged after sex!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think Oliver could have handled Felicity in a sheet. So that's not happening. Also, Isabel still happened.

When Oliver knocked on Felicity’s hotel room door, he felt filthy. He could still smell Isabel’s scent on his skin, even though he took a cold shower. He still felt her hands on his body, her tongue in his mouth and her body under his, and he felt filthy. He regretted doing it the moment she left his bed, and Oliver knows that their actions may have dreadful repercussions.

But he has bigger problems now, they have to save Digg and Lyla. So he knocks on Felicity’s door, expecting to see her, concerned and worried about her friend, anxious about getting him back. He doesn’t expect to see a man open the door. He’s tall and well built, with dark hair and dark blue eyes. He has stubble and a strong jaw, his hair is a mess and his clothes are rumpled.

Oliver’s heart sinks.

Then, he sees Felicity. She’s standing on the bed, putting on her boots. The sheets are as rumpled as the guy’s clothes and Oliver sees the dress Felicity was wearing before thrown on the floor, next to her heels and a black lace bra.

He doesn’t have the right to feel this. He’s jealous, and angry, Oliver’s mad at Felicity, even though he did the exact same thing with Isabel, and even though he knows he has no right. He is not with Felicity, he has never given her any indication that he might like her more than a friend.

But she must know. Just like he knows, he knows she cares about him, doesn’t she know he cares about her?

It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. Just as Isabel doesn’t matter, this shouldn’t matter either. But it still hurt. More than Oliver was expecting it.

‘Just ignore the Russian by the door, Oliver’, Felicity’s amused voice cuts through. ‘Let him pass and come on in, I’ll be ready in 3 minutes.’

Oliver takes a deep breath and steps inside of the hotel room, carefully avoiding touching the other man. He’s looking at him, a frown between his brows.

‘Goodbye, Dimitri’, Felicity’s voice startles them. ‘Talk to you later.’

Dimitri turns to look at her then, smiling sheepishly. ‘Are you sure you don’t have more time before you leave back for America?’, he asks with a heavy Russian accent.

‘I really don’t’, Felicity shakes her head. ‘Sorry’, she says, but Oliver can see she doesn’t mean it. The guy must see it too, because he nods and flees the room, closing the door behind himself.

‘Sorry about that’, Felicity smiles, unperturbed. ‘Any updates on Digg?’

Oliver shakes his head, trying to wipe away any emotion from his face. He manages, somehow, and they don’t talk about it. They focus on the job at hand, meet up with Anatoli and they head for the prison.

But Oliver can’t stop looking at Felicity. She looks good, she looks better than she ever did. She looks light, like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders, and it makes Oliver’s stomach turn, knowing what did it. She had sex with a random Russian guy, and it’s making her glow.

Oliver feels mad, all of a sudden. Not towards her or him, but towards himself.

‘I slept with Isabel’, he blurts out, before Anatoli even got to shut the car door behind him.

Felicity freezes, but recovers quickly enough. She looks at him through the rearview mirror for a couple of seconds, and then she nods, her shoulders slumping.

‘Let’s just agree that what happens in Russia, stays in Russia?’, she shrugs. ‘Even when it makes no sense whatsoever?’

‘Who’s Dimitri?’, Oliver asks, making her flinch.

‘So we’re not doing that?’

‘We’re still in Russia’, Oliver says, annoyance seeping through.

Felicity sighs. ‘I met him online, a couple of years ago. In a game. We kept talking, and this is the first, and probably only time we met.’

Oliver doesn’t say anything. He’s biting his lip to keep from talking, because he doesn’t even know what he would say. Felicity watches him, eyes narrowed and a confused frown between her eyebrows.

‘Isabel’s going to be more complicated than that’, she finally says, somewhat reserved.

‘I’m always doing stupid things.’, Oliver whispers, truly believing it. Felicity doesn’t get to answer, because Anatoli comes back and they make their way towards Diggle and Lyla.

Everything happens quickly after that, and they don’t talk about it anymore. Oliver thinks that they really are going to apply the ‘what happens in Russia stays in Russia’ rule, but he’s wrong.

It’s a week later, and it’s only him and Felicity in the Foundry, Digg having taken a day off to spend with Lyla. Oliver’s on the training mats, doing yoga, for a change. He doesn’t notice when Felicity changes her clothes, and the next thing he knows, she’s sitting down in front of him, wearing black yoga pants and a blue sports bra, stretching.

‘Do you mind?’, she asks, the tip of her ears turning red. Oliver shakes his head and goes back to his yoga.

He tries not to look at her, but he fails. And she sees it, she catches him a few times, but doesn’t say anything for a while.

But then, she sighs and stops doing her workout, laying down on the mats. She sits right in front of Oliver, on her belly, her head resting on her crossed hands. Felicity stares him down, an unreadable expression on her face, so Oliver stops moving too, sitting cross-legged in front of her.

‘What?’, he asks, weary.

‘We’re pretty stupid, you know.’, Felicity smiles. ‘Isabel looks nothing like me and Dimitri looks nothing like you.’

Oliver feels his world implode. He clenches his fists and swallows hard before talking. His voice still breaks, though.

‘I thought that what happened in Russia stayed in Russia.’

Felicity hummed. ‘It would have, if you wouldn’t have made it weird.’

When he doesn’t say anything, Felicity explains. ‘You don’t touch me anymore, you barely look me in the eye. It’s been a week and you haven’t said my name once.’

Oliver knows that’s true. He thought it would hurt him less if he detached himself. It didn’t work.

When he doesn’t say anything, Felicity sighs and moves, turning onto her back and resting her head in his lap. Oliver freezes and stops breathing, but she doesn’t seem to mind. She looks up at him, and it looks ridiculous, he’s seeing her upside down and she’s close, so close, he can smell her shampoo and he’s seeing every freckle she has on her nose. Felicity smiles and closes her eyes. When she starts talking again, it’s whispered, echoing in the walls of the Foundry.

‘As I said, we are stupid. Isabel doesn’t look anything like me, and Dimitri doesn’t look anything like you.’

‘I can’t’, Oliver says, then takes a second to catch his breath. ‘Because of the life that I lead, I just think it's better to not be with someone that I could really care about.’

Felicity shakes her head gently. ‘Because of the life that you lead, you’re scared of being with someone you could care about.’

She moves then, slowly, getting up and kneeling in front of him, steadying herself with her hands on his knees. Oliver feels caged, his breath coming in short pants. He doesn’t dare move, doesn’t dare look away from Felicity’s face. From her pink lips and bright eyes. She’s not wearing her glasses, and he sees fire in them, determination but sadness too. Her eyes rank quickly over his face, while she takes a deep breath.

‘And because of the life that I lead’, she whispers, ‘I can’t be with someone who doesn’t know.’

She’s right, of course she is, but it still hurts Oliver. He feels guilty, for bringing her into this life. He doesn’t say anything, he can’t, but Felicity seems to know it. Because she sighs, and tightens her hold on his knees. She moves forward, slowly, so slowly, so close that he can’t focus on her face anymore. So Oliver closes his eyes and holds his breath.

It’s barely a kiss, just a short press of her lips against his, but it still sets Oliver’s body on fire. But he doesn’t move, as much as he wants, as much as he wants to bring her closer still, feel her body against his, bury his face in her hair. He doesn’t move, and Felicity doesn’t say anything else.

She just walks away from him, not looking back. Felicity doesn’t bother changing her workout clothes, just grabbing one of Oliver’s hoodies and heading out the door.

He doesn’t move for a long time. His lips still tingle, even days after.


	48. This wasn't meant to be special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After I posted [this](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com/post/86329965976/the-greatest-trick-the-devil-ever-pulled-was-to) gif, [varentain](http://varentain.tumblr.com/) asked: _IS THERE AN EVIL!FELICITY FIC, IS THERE?! I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh. Close enough.  
> Title from [The Naked And Famous - Grow Old](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33yzKwLQ5rQ)

She wasn’t even looking at the monitors when they started beeping. She was taking a short brake from coding, crackling her fingers.

The computers were making an obnoxious sound. It wasn’t their usual alarm, it was like a horn that blasted through the lair, loud, so loud, it instantly caused her to panic. When Felicity lifted her head, she saw that her monitors turned black, a simple gold arrowhead blinking in sync with the horn.

Felicity was on her feet in an instant, slowly backing away from the computers.

Oliver was saying her name, urgently and questioning. And her heart sunk, deep in her stomach.

‘Get your guns’, she breathed out, not taking her eyes off the computers. ‘And your bows and arrows. Shoot to kill’, her voice cracked. ‘Shoot to kill or we’re all dead.’

Digg and Roy quickly obliged, but Oliver didn’t, rushing to her side. He put his hands on her shoulders, roughly turning her towards him. The moment their eyes met, a sob escaped her lips and she started crying.

‘What’s happening?’, Oliver asked, shaking her slightly.                                 

Felicity shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I thought he died, I…’

‘Tell me’, Oliver interrupted her, wiping away her tears, concerned eyes never leaving hers.

She took a deep breath and one of her hands came up to rest on his chest. ‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this.’, she whispered. ‘I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you’.

Oliver jerked back, his mouth falling open. But he didn’t let her go.

‘You weren’t supposed to change me’, she continued. ‘You weren’t supposed to make me good.’

Then they all heard the door opening, and footsteps slowly coming down the stairs.

‘Get your bow’, Felicity told Oliver, pushing him away. ‘Please get your bow.’

Oliver turned around, and Roy was there, handing him his quiver and bow. He took them and quickly put them on, just as the man got to them. He was wearing a purple suit, with gold accents. He was tall, well built, with dark hair and dark eyes. On his back, there was a quiver filled with arrows with gold ends and he was loosely holding his bow in one hand.

Making his way through the lair, he never once took his eyes off Felicity. He seemed calm, but there was hate in his eyes.

When he stopped, just a few feet away from Felicity and Oliver, Digg already had his gun trained on him, and Roy had an arrow pointed at his chest. Oliver instantly took a step in front of Felicity, covering her, but he didn’t lift his bow.

The man snorted, looking past him, at Felicity. ‘Really, Felicity? _He’s_ defending you?’

A sob escaped Felicity’s lips, even if she was biting her lips to keep it in. The man tilted his head, expression softening for a few seconds.

‘Now, now, don’t cry’, he mocked. ‘I’m just here to collect. You did promise me, didn’t you?’

‘What do you want?’, Oliver’s asked, voice rough and low.

‘You’, the man answered, but his eyes never left Felicity’s.

‘Don’t’, she whispered, making Oliver freeze. ‘Please, Simon.’

The man shook his head. ‘Oh, my, you’re grown attached. You care. Oh. Well that’s a complication.’

‘Who are you?’, Diggle asked him, when it was clear that neither Oliver nor Felicity would speak anymore.

‘My name is Simon Lacroix’, the man answered, not looking away from Felicity. ‘Robert Queen ruined my life, but he died before I got my revenge. So I’m going to get the next best thing.’

His eyes finally traveled to Oliver. And that made Felicity move, she stepped in front of him, but he tried to stop her. She settled on staying by his side, but she didn’t look at Oliver, she couldn’t.

Simon’s eyebrows lifted, and he took a small step forward. Felicity wiped her face and took a deep breath, her expression changing, from desperation to cold determination and hatred, surprising all of the men in the room. She heard Oliver gasp, but she tried her best to ignore it.

‘What are you doing?’, Simon narrowed his eyes. ‘What have you been doing in the past year? Playing house? This wasn’t your mission.’

‘I refused my mission’, she spit out.

‘No, you didn’t’, Simon replied, forcefully. ‘You accepted it. The mission was to find out if Queen was the Arrow, and deliver his head on a silver plate. You’re late, I was expecting a call months ago.’

She didn’t say anything, she just shook her head, breathing heavily.

‘Felicity’, the man took another step forward, and Oliver notched an arrow in his bow. Simon ignored him and kept talking. ‘This isn’t you, my dear. You don’t _care_.’

‘I do now’, she said, forcefully. ‘I care. A lot.’, Felicity took a deep breath. ‘What we do here, what Oliver does, it’s good.’

‘You’re not’, Simon raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re not good. You’ve got blood on your hands.’

She closed her eyes, a sob escaping her lips.

‘You may not have been the one handling the daggers’, he continued, ‘but your fingers on your keyboards told me where to go. You’re as guilty as I am.’

‘I am’, she nodded. ‘And I will never forgive myself for it. But I’m redeeming myself.’

‘You don’t deserve a second chance’, Simon roared, making her take a step backwards, and all the other men grip their weapons harder.

Felicity turned around, and headed towards one of the storage units. She quickly took out a gun and armed it, training it on Simon. She stepped forward, with confidence, her heels clicking on the cement being the only sounds heard.

She was crying, but her aim didn’t waver. When she spoke, her voice didn’t crack, it was strong, and it surprised all the men. None of them ever heard her speak like that, expect for Oliver, who heard her speak so forcefully in the Clock Tower, while they were fighting Slade. It made his stomach turn.

‘I am sorry for all the mistakes I have made. But you are not laying a finger on Oliver Queen. He’s better than you will ever be, and Robert knew that.’

‘So what?’, Simon roared. ‘Are you going to kill me?’

‘You deserve it!’, she yelled, tears running down onto the concrete beneath her feet. ‘You deserve every bad thing that happened to you, you deserve to die, you bastard. You manipulated me, making me think that was who I am. You used me. You used me, that’s all you ever did.’

‘And what is he doing?’, he pointed a finger at Oliver. ‘He’s using your skills, he’s fucking up your life, he’s-‘

‘He’s teaching me to love again’, she interrupted him. Her scream made Simon take a step back. ‘They all are’, Felicity continued. ‘They’re teaching me to be good, to do good. I’ve done things I never thought I could, I saved lives.’

Silence fell over them, Felicity’s sobs echoing in the place.

‘I’m going to kill you’, Simon said, slowly, unattached.

Felicity released the safety off the gun and took a deep breath. Her finger tightened on the trigger and then, a rough hand came around it, stopping her movements. Slowly, she saw Oliver turning towards her. Both of his hands were now on the gun, holding her hand. His fingers were warm, and the second she felt his touch, her hand started shaking.

‘I’m not letting you kill him’, he whispered, and when Felicity looked up, there were tears in Oliver’s eyes. But there was no judgment, no hatred towards her. It made her heart beat faster, and he felt it, somehow, because he sighed and nodded slightly.

‘He’ll kill you’, Felicity managed to whisper back.

‘No, he won’t’, Oliver said, a lot more forcefully than before. He spared a look towards Diggle, and then Felicity heard a gun go off. Simon started screaming, and when she looked passed Oliver, she saw him on the floor, blood pouring out of his knee. Roy advanced then, hitting him in the head with his bow. Simon fell to the floor, unconscious.

Felicity started crying even harder then.

‘I'm sorry, I am so sorry, I-‘

Oliver shushed her, tightening his grip on her hand. ‘Felicity, let go of the gun.’

She listened, and he quickly threw the gun in the other side of the room.

‘I’m so sorry’, she said again, taking a step back, away from him. ‘I betrayed you and I failed you and I am sorry.’

‘You didn’t’, Oliver shook his head, following her, with his arms stretched in front of her, but not touching. ‘You could have, but you didn’t. You helped me, and stood by my side, and you saved my life.’

‘No, I-‘, she tried, still stepping backwards. He still followed.

‘No, Felicity’, he said, more forcefully. ‘I forgive you.’

‘You shouldn’t!’, she screamed. ‘I’ve helped him do things, horrible things-‘

‘I’ve done horrible things too. And you forgave me. Just like I forgive you now.’

‘You shouldn’t’, Felicity whispered, her back hitting a wall. ‘You should lock me up, you should-‘

‘No!’, he yelled, finally stopping. Oliver grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. ‘I am not letting you go’, he whispered. ‘You said I changed you. And I’m glad I did, and I will never stop fighting, to keep you like that, like this. You made me better, Felicity, you changed me as much as I changed you.’

‘You can’t trust me anymore’.

‘I can’, Oliver smiled. ‘And I do. I’ll always trust you.’

He moved then, quickly hugging her and bringing her into his arms. She sunk against his chest, her hands coming up to wrap around his waist. Oliver whispered to her, so that Digg and Roy wouldn’t hear, he whispered that he loved her too, and that nothing will change that, that she’ll always have him, and that he knows she’s always going to be here for him too. Felicity cried even harder.

She cried for hours, and Oliver never let go of her.


	49. Felicity's very bad woof day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has an awful day. It ends with a balloon at her front door. And a pug on her chest.

picture from [here](http://have--not.tumblr.com/post/39617893173)

The whole day was horrible. Everything was off, by a bit or by a mile, from the very beginning.

Felicity didn’t hear her alarm, making her 20 minutes late from the start. She burnt her hand with her hair straightener, she messed up her makeup and ended up wearing a way too bold smokey eye, because she didn’t have enough time to take it off and start again. She also didn’t have time to make coffee, and when she walked out of Starbucks, a little boy dropped his hot chocolate on her shoes.

The troubles didn’t end there.

She spent the next 8 hours in the conference room, with Oliver and various people. Things were still tough for QC, even if Oliver got it back, and everybody was working hard to fix it.

And that usually meant that everyone expected Felicity to bring them coffee and bagels, to keep her head low and treat them like royalty. It made her mad, but she did it, she had to do it, because happy board members meant that they were going to do their job.

So she took the mean comments when Oliver insisted she’d stay for the meetings, the condescending tones whenever she’d propose a solution, the superior looks every woman in the room gave her, the full on glaring they did every time Oliver gave her attention. She tried her best to dodge the men who flirted with her, smiling politely and not answering, most of the time, even though her instinct was telling her to kick them in the groin.

She took it all, but it wasn’t an easy task. It made her angry, impossibly so, but she pushed through it, because Oliver was nice to her. He always made sure she had coffee in her cup, he asked for her opinion, and put a comforting hand on her knee every time some would say something inappropriate towards her.

But they didn’t have time for lunch that day, and she had to stay an extra hour at the office to wrap up the papers from all of Oliver’s meeting that day. And on her way to the lair, Felicity got a call from her mother, who spent 10 minutes explaining all the way she was disappointed in her.

So by the time Felicity got to the lair, she was starving, tired, and very mad. It only got worse.

Roy was playing Need for Speed on one of the computers. _What? It’s not like you’re using all of them at the same time, just work on another computer._ Felicity wanted to scream, but she held herself back. Instead, she started training with Diggle.

She couldn’t concentrate properly, but she did her best. It wasn’t easy, not when Oliver was looking at them upside down from the salmon ladder, giving her pointers here and there. Knowing he was watching her so closely, it made it even hard for Felicity to focus.

After 30 minutes, she just quit. She sagged against Digg for a couple of seconds, surprising him, because he froze. Then she lowered herself on the floor, panting and breathing heavily, sweat dripping all over her body.

Felicity looked up at the ceiling, not saying anything, keeping her body as relaxed as possible. Diggle’s concerned look came into her field of vision, and she smiled, because from her vantage point, he was absolutely gargantuan.

‘I wasn’t going that hard on you’, he said gently.

She hummed. ‘Today is a horrible day.’, Felicity smiled. ‘Today is the worst day I have ever had without anybody dying around me, and I can’t. I just can’t anymore.’

Digg crouched down, putting a hand on her forehead. ‘What happened?’

‘Everything went wrong from the start, and dealing with the suck up bastards who think I’m Oliver’s dumb whore is exhausting. I’m exhausted.’ Felicity was whining, she knew she was, but the prospect of getting up from the floor was making her stomach turn.

Digg started petting her hair. She hummed into it, turning on her side to face him.

After a few moments, she heard Roy’s amused voice, comparing her to a cat. Felicity ignored him, pushing her head more into Diggle’s hand. After a while, he puffed and muttered something about big babies. But he picked her up. Felicity squealed, putting her hands around his neck.

‘I’m driving you home. And you’re going to sleep, a lot, and come in late tomorrow, considering it’s a Saturday.’

Felicity hummed, resting her head on his chest. ‘You’re always taking care of me.’ She really doesn’t remember a lot more after that.

After sleeping for 12 hours straight, she ate a big breakfast and took a long shower, taking her time in getting ready to go to the lair. She was almost done, when her doorbell rung.

But when she went to see who it was, all Felicity saw through a peephole was a balloon. A helium balloon, round and pink, with little purple hearts on it. It clearly was attached to something on the floor, but she couldn’t see to what.

Felicity sighed and shook her head, reaching for the bat Oliver made her keep near the door, before opening it. She yelped when she saw what the balloon was attached to.

It was a pug. There was a pug, a cute, little, chubby dog on her doorstep, looking up at her.

‘What?’, she said out loud, staring down at the dog while taking a step back into the house. It seemed to take that as an invitation, because it moved, forward, jumping on his front feet, yipping up at her, butting its head into her shins. She took a few more steps back, surprised, but the dog moved with her. The balloon followed, because it was tied to its collar.

Felicity crouched down, letting the bat fall from her hand. The dog started making even more noise then, barking and butting his head into her hand. She reluctantly started petting it, and that seemed to calm it down. After a few moments, the dog puffed a couple of times and rolled on the floor, exposing its tummy.

‘I don’t know who you are, I’m not rubbing your belly’, Felicity told it sternly. The dog barked, once.

‘Good to know you’re a boy, though’, she muttered. The dog barked again.

‘No’, she pointed a finger at his face, but all it did was lick her finger.

‘He likes you’, a voice she recognized as Oliver’s came through, but it still startled her, so she fell to the floor, landing on her butt with a thud. She groaned, Oliver snorted, and the dog made its way in her lap.

Felicity started petting it, glaring at Oliver all the while, who simply smiled at her and came in, closing the door behind him. He crouched down too, so they were at the same level now, and smiled.

‘I wanted to apologize’, he said.

‘What for?’, she frowned. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong.’

‘Feels like I did’, Oliver shrugged. ‘I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I should have never forced to into this.’

Felicity started shaking her head, but Oliver didn’t let her speak.

‘I don’t mean the Arrow business, you have made it loud and clear that you’re not walking away from that, and I am grateful. I am talking about the EA business.’, he sighed, reaching a hand to pet the dog, taking his eyes off Felicity.

‘Yesterday was awful, and I have no way to stop it. You shouldn’t have to go through that, and I have no place in expecting you to.’

Felicity felt her heart burst in her chest. She smiled, she couldn’t help it, reaching to grab Oliver’s hand. He stills then, and looks up at Felicity.

‘You can have your old job back. I’ll speak to the head of IT to get you a promotion, but in your department.’

Felicity let go of his hand, biting her lip. ‘That still doesn’t explain the dog.’, she narrowed her eyes.

‘His name is Quiver.’, Oliver smiled down at it. ‘I went to the dog pound, intend to get you something… fluffy. But this little guy kept demanding attention. And when they told me his name, I couldn’t help it.’

‘You got me a dog?’, Felicity felt the need to ask.

Oliver nodded.

‘Why?’

‘You love so much’, he shrugged. ‘It feels wrong, wasting it all on us. And you always complain about your house being too big and empty. He’ll keep you company.’

It took a few moments for Felicity to catch her breath. She laughed, grabbing Oliver’s hand in both of her, bringing it up to her mouth and kissing his knuckles.

‘You’re insane’, she breathed out, laughing at his pout. ‘But thank you. Really, you… Oliver, this means a lot. I’m keeping the dog, and I’m keeping my job. As it is now, I can handle what those idiots throw at me if you’ll be there to support me.’

Oliver just looked at her for a couple of seconds. A small smile on his face, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes. Felicity smiled, and he breathed out a long sigh, coming closer to her.

She stopped breathing, but he kept leaning forward. Oliver was going to kiss her, she was certain of it, and Felicity’s heart was somewhere in her throat, and he was close, so close her eyes couldn’t focus on him anymore, and Oliver had closed his eyes and…

Quiver barked, jumping up and down between them. Oliver puffed, aggravated, and Felicity laughed, she couldn’t help it. She leaned down, till her back hit the floor, and Quiver quickly followed, stepping over her body, over her stomach and her chest. He sat down on top her her, so that his head was fitted into the crook of her neck.

But it was okay, because Oliver laid on his back next to her, grabbing a hold of her hand.


	50. the Arrow in high heels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Oliver gets kidnapped and the kidnappers make demands to see the Hood and somehow it winds up that Felicity has to be the Hood decoy for the kidnappers. But before she gets revealed and almost killed Oliver gets out of his restrains (when he needs to save her ass) and chews her out for going putting herself in danger._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, dear anon, I changed the outcome a bit. Because I can never let the opportunity of Felicity being a bamf pass :). Still, I hope you like it.

There were four of them. With multiple weapons, all trained on him. They ambushed him as he was riding his bike, and drugged him before he even got a chance to fight back. So now, Oliver was sitting in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by goons with weapons, on a chair with his hands cuffed behind his back, watching in horror as the leader calls Felicity.

‘We know you work with him. We have Queen. If the Arrow isn’t here in 30 minutes, Queen dies.’

They knocked him out again, when he tried to yell at Felicity to not do anything.

When Oliver comes to it again, he’s facing the Arrow. He blinks several times, shaking his head, pinching his skin to convince himself he isn’t hallucinating.

Because the Arrow is in front of him. His suit, the hood up, the mask and the quiver, his crossbow, gripped tight but not raised.

It’s only when he realizes that Roy is standing next to Arrow that it hits him. It’s not Digg under the Hood. Digg is home, caring for his newborn. Then who’s behind the hood?

Oliver shakes his head and tries to focus on the figure in front of him. The Arrow is short, barely reaching Roy’s height. He’s wearing black leather boots, with high, thick heels. His form is small, fragile. His suit seems large on him, the pants are held to the body with a belt and the hood is very, very loose.

It’s not a man, Oliver realizes. She has a gap between her thighs and he can see the outline of breaths when she moves. She’s shaking, slightly, and she isn’t wearing his gloves. Hers are thinner and smaller. Oliver catches a glimpse of blonde hair and he thinks, for a second, that Sara came back. But then, he looks into her eyes and he stops breathing.

Felicity is wearing his hood. Felicity is talking through his voice modulator, threatening his kidnappers, voice not once wavering. Felicity is looking straight at him, bright blue eyes standing out through the green of his mask. Felicity is gripping his crossbow tightly, and he doesn’t know what she’s saying.

He can’t hear her. He can’t focus enough on the words coming out of his mouth, because he’s terrified. Oliver knows the kidnappers aren’t going to hesitate in hurting her, and that cannot happen.

So he roars, and starts tugging on his cuffs. Everything stills around him, the kidnappers turn to him and Felicity’s eyes grow wide. They don’t leave his for what feels like a lifetime, but then Oliver sees Felicity reach for an arrow. He gasps, but Felicity ignores him.  

She shoots the arrow, immediately. She hits one of the kidnappers in the knee, the only one who had a gun, just as Roy shoots another in another one's shoulder. Two left. Each of them start running towards them, and Felicity doesn’t hesitate in hitting her attacker with the bow, instantly knocking him unconscious. Roy does the same.

‘Oh my god, that worked!’, Felicity screeches, the voice modulator doing nothing to hide her glee. But she scrunches up her nose and shuts it down, finally looking back at Oliver.

Who’s gaping, he knows he is.

She saved him. Again, she’s always saving him. But this is different. His heart is beating differently, loud and fast. But it’s not beating because of her, no, now it feels like it’s beating _for_ her. And Oliver doesn’t know what to do with that.

So he just stands there. Handcuffed on the chair, eyes roaming over her. Felicity, his Felicity. She looks beautiful in his hood. Even if it’s too large on her, even if it’s a burden he never wants her to bear,  even if there’s death surrounding her, she’s beautiful. The realization stirs a whole other set of emotions inside of him, so Oliver takes a deep breath to get back on track.

‘Are you hurt?’, Felicity asks, and Oliver’s glad the voice modulator is off. He missed her voice.

He shakes his head, as Felicity bends town and starts palming the pockets of the kidnappers. She finds the keys quickly enough, and rushes to his side, crouching to uncuff him.

The second he’s free to move, Oliver gets up and pulls Felicity to him. She lets out a surprised _oomf_ , but he doesn’t care. He just hold her close for a few seconds, until she relaxes and brings her hands on his waist.

Oliver takes a deep breath, and he smells his leather, but it’s mingled with Felicity’s perfume. Leather and lavender. He takes off the hood, finally seeing her blonde hair, pulled in a pony tail on top of her head and braided down. He doesn’t say anything, he just pulls out the hair tie and runs his fingers through her pony tail, untangling the braid.

Felicity gasps, but she doesn’t pull away. And neither does he. They stay like that for a while, hugging each other, his hands never stopping moving in her hair.

Until Roy coughs. They both pull back then, and when Oliver looks behind him, he sees that Roy has cuffed all the kidnappers.

‘SCPD’s on their way’, he says, not meeting Oliver’s eyes.

He sighs and turns to Felicity, grabbing her hand and putting his other one on the back of her neck, squeezing slightly.

‘If you ever do something like this again, if you ever willingly put yourself in this position again, I will not restrain myself.’

Felicity rolls her eyes. ‘There wasn’t any other solution. And I did good’, she raises an eyebrow. ‘Didn’t I?’

Oliver sighs and lets go of her, reluctantly taking a step back. ‘Since when do you know how to shoot an arrow?’

She grins. ‘I’ve been training for 3 months now. Got a few classes on a shooting range out of town, watched a whole lot of youtube videos, and Roy’s been filling in the rest of the gaps. I didn’t think I’d actually hit him, though, I’m not that good at moving targets yet.’

‘Come on, Arrow’, Roy says pointently, ‘the cops are almost here.’

Felicity nods and puts the hood back on, making Oliver’s heartbeat skip. She runs her hand down his arm as she passes him, telling him to make the cops call Roy to come and get him.

He watches her walk away, and snorts when she has to pull the pants up, because they slid down even with the belt she used.

Two hours later, after a lot of medical attention and statements, Oliver’s heading down the stairs of the new lair, because that’s where Roy told him Felicity was.

She’s still wearing the hood. She’s at her computers, typing away, but she’s still in his clothes. The hood and the mask are off, and the zipper to the hood is half way down, revealing a simple black sports bra. But she’s still dressed like him.

‘I don’t like you wearing that’, he tells her before his brain catches up.

Felicity stops typing and turns to him, slowly. ‘Why?’, she frowns.

‘You shouldn’t be encircled by so much death.’

She doesn’t say anything for a while, so Oliver just sighs and heads to the other part of the lair, where he keeps his clothes. Felicity stops him, grabbing his hand and turning him around.

Once again, his breath catches when he looks down at her. She looks absolutely breathtaking in green.

‘Is that what you think this is? The hood? That’s what it represents, to you?’

He doesn’t answer. But she smiles, talking softly.

‘Cause to me, this are the clothes you were wearing when you were saving me. Not just me, but a lot of other people too.’

‘I’ve also taken a lot of lives wearing them.’

She scrunches up her nose. ‘Things change. You changed. This hood changed. Not physically, but it’s meaning changed.’

The way she said it, like it’s the most natural thing it the world, like the fact that Oliver was a killer doesn’t matter anymore, like she doesn’t care, it made his heart warm up, and he couldn’t help but smile.

‘I still don’t like you wearing it.’

She frowned and looked down at it. ‘You’re huge. It always looks so tight on you and I’m swimming in it. Hell, I almost lost the pants twice while climbing the stairs, and that was after I put on the belt.’

‘You should take them off them’, Oliver chuckles.

When Felicity looks up at him, there’s a smirk on her lips and a mischievous glint in her eyes.

‘Just the pants, or…?’

Oliver freezes, eyes automatically going down. His intention was to look at the pants, but Felicity’s cleavage was in the way. The sports bra left very little to his imagination, and Oliver was suddenly feeling very hot.

‘Or uh…’, he stammered slightly, but managed to meet her eyes. ‘Or I could hold on to them, so they don’t fall off. Hold onto them tightly. To you, hold on to you tightly.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘Very platonic circumstances?’

Oliver sighed, grabbing her hand. ‘Not for a very long time now.’

Felicity laughed, loud and bright, and when she kissed him, she didn’t stop smiling. He takes off the pants, but leaves the hood on her. Even though he has to wash it in the morning.


	51. Laurel vs. Felicity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [lifecolouredpurple](http://lifecolouredpurple.tumblr.com/)asked: i read the olicity "why do you keep her around" fic that you did, and I was wondering if you might do another, expanded version. maybe one, where laurel works with them sometimes and intrudes, and oliver tells her about what he thinks about felicity and then she slowly backs away to allow oliver the space he needs to get felicity. idk if that makes any sense, sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's been some crazy couple of days, and honestly, it seems like it's gonna keep on like this. So I think it's safe to assume I won't be updating this as often as before. It will still happen, but not as often. I am sorry, and I love you for still staying around :)
> 
> Secondly. UHM. I don't know if I did this well. It seems like a re-do of _Why do you keep her around?_ and ugh I don't know. Ugh. Ugh. Laurel. Ugh. Anyway... here ya go :)

It was little things, at first. That’s why it took a while for Felicity to figure it out.

Everything started one random day, with Oliver coming down into the newly finished Foundry 2.0, and instantly wrinkling his nose. He complained about the smell, pointing to an incense stick that was burning on Felicity’s desk. She wasn’t the one who put it there, and she was quick to explain that, but Oliver just shook his head and asked her to not do it again. After that, Laurel explained to Felicity that even before the island, Oliver didn’t like strong smells, and that she stopped wearing perfume when they were together.

Then, there was the coffee incident. Felicity convinced the guys to install a small kitchenette in the lair, a minifridge, a coffee maker, a microwave and a sink. She was in charge of stocking it and keeping it in order, and that was fine by her. But Felicity hasn’t gotten to do the shopping yet, when Oliver came to her, whining and politely asking her to buy some normal coffee too, because he doesn’t like the flavored ones.

Oliver’s hood went missing one night. He was furious, and they all spent hours looking through every little corner of the lair. Roy was the one who found it, in the bag Felicity kept a spare of clothes in. She was baffled, barely hearing Roy say that it smelled clean, like it just came out of the washer. Oliver didn’t really say much, he only told Felicity that he’ll be in charge of washing it, like he always was. He didn’t speak to her that night.

There were more little things, over the course of a few months. Oliver rushing to the lair because an alarm went off, when, in fact, nothing had happened. Someone shuffling his arrows around, changing the location he was used to. Files missing from the computer he used. The entrance code randomly changing. Important text never arriving to Felicity’s phone. E-mails getting corrupted, schedules changing on their own, and so on and so forth.

Felicity had no idea what was happening, but she figured that someone was messing around. These felt like pranks, and judging by how Oliver ended up assuming it was her fault, it was clear that someone was playing pranks on Felicity.

The suspect list was narrow, few people had access to this new lair, but Felicity only started properly thinking about it on one particular evening, when she informed Oliver that he was expected to attend a gala the next evening. Laurel quickly said that she’ll join him, grinning excitedly, and Oliver accepted. He barely looked at Felicity, and she didn’t say anything.

But her mind was spinning. She didn’t get along with Laurel, not really. They never had, and not even now, when they spend a lot of time together in the lair, their relationship wasn’t good. It was acceptable, respectful, but they didn’t talk outside of business. Laurel was cold and detached, and it was clear that she had no interest in being Felicity’s friend, so she backed down, and treated her the same.

Felicity didn’t think Laurel would do this, though. Would she?

It all became clear when they came back from that gala. Not just for Felicity, but for Oliver, Roy and Digg, too. They were all there when Oliver and Laurel came down the stairs, she was talking animatedly and he was ignoring her. The moment his eyes landed on Felicity, he didn’t look away, didn’t stop until he was a few steps in front of her.

Felicity tried to smile politely, and not let any of her emotions show, as she asked them if they enjoyed the party.

‘Oh yes’, Laurel smiled, absently running her hand down Oliver’s shoulder. ‘It was a pretty nice party, it’s been a while since I had so much fun.’

Oliver shut his eyes at her words, but didn’t turn to her. Instead, he took a final step forward and looked down at Felicity.

‘Who’s Damien Rogers?’

‘He has a security company.’, Felicity didn’t miss a beat.

‘And he asked me to give you a big kiss from him and to loosen you up, because his proposal is as good as it gets.’, Oliver narrowed his eyes, making her flinch.

‘We were roommates in collage, that’s what the kiss was for.’, she waved a hand around.

‘And his proposal?’, Oliver’s voice was dropped, and he was visibly mad, it made Felicity’s heart beat faster.

‘He wants to sign a contract with QC, to upgrade and manage the security, software, hardware and man power. It’s good, but it’s not the best, and I told him so, I told him what he should change and why. I was waiting for him to upgrade the project to present it to you.’

Oliver took a deep breath. ‘And Matthew Brown?’

Felicity groaned. ‘He’s the CEO of a small software company and he’s convinced that QC needs their latest project, a program that changes the user passwords daily.’

‘We already have that.’, he frowned.

‘Yes, I know, I was the one who implemented that into our data base. And I have been telling him that, but he just won’t understand and leave me alone.’

Oliver sighed, and when he spoke, it was slow and Felicity saw that he was holding back his anger. ‘I made a fool out of myself in front of these people, because I had no idea who they were and what they did. You should have been there tonight.’

‘Yes, I should have.’, she shrugged.

‘Then why weren’t you?’, he raised his voice, making her flinch and take a step backwards. In the corner of her eye, she saw Laurel doing the same, and she saw Digg take a step towards Oliver. But they were all silent.

Felicity swallowed and crossed her hands over her chest, taking a deep breath before talking, to insure her voice was as hard and steady as his was.

‘Because you didn’t ask, and EAs don’t usually get separate invitations.’

‘I asked’, Oliver insisted, but she saw that he wasn’t sure of himself.

‘You didn’t.’, she smiled as best as she could, spearing a look at Laurel, who was glaring at her unperturbed.

That made Oliver pause. He blinked a couple of times, but when he opened his mouth to speak, Felicity didn’t let him.

‘Sorry, it was a mistake on my part. I should have explained to you why I should go. It won’t happen again, I’ll make sure to invite myself next time I need to be there. And tomorrow you will have on your desk all the projects I have kept from you, because they weren’t finalized. There’s one for the IT department, two for Applied Sciences, one for distribution. There’s also a few ideas for the Moira Queen Foundation and one for making a nursery in the building.’

After a few tense seconds, Oliver nodded, even if it was clear he was still lost in his thoughts. Felicity smiled and made her way back to the computers, ignoring Digg’s knowing looks or the way Roy was glaring at Oliver.

She thought that Laurel would back down after that. She hoped. But she was wrong, because an hour later, Laurel came to Felicity’s desk, leaning on it, casually asking her for the security code for the closed network they had in the lair.

‘I don’t understand why you need it, Laurel’, Felicity tried for what felt like the million time. ‘You can get in, you can work on that computers, just like the boys usually do…’

‘What will I do when I need to change something?’, Laurel argued.

‘Like what?’, Felicity laughed incredulously. ‘Please tell me a situation in which you would need to change the emergency lock down code all by yourself. Or modify the firewall. Because that’s all it does.’

‘What if I-‘

‘Laurel!’, Oliver’s angry voice made both the women freeze. He made his way towards them, grabbing hold of the lawyer’s elbow. ‘What are you doing?’, he narrowed his eyes, as she wiggled out of his hold.

‘Nothing’, she hissed, looking back to Felicity. ‘I just thought it might be useful if I know the security code.’

‘I don’t even know the security code’, Oliver pointed out.

‘Well you should’, she said forcefully. ‘You leave all of this in charge of Felicity? Do you really think that’s wise?’, she mocked, making Felicity flinch. She sighed, and when she looked toward Oliver again, he took a step back, looking shocked at Laurel. He collected himself quickly, and there was rage in his eyes.

Felicity was up from her chair and by his side in a heartbeat, putting a hand on his arm, starling him.

‘Oliver’, she whispered when he looked down at her. ‘Think about what you’re going to say.’

‘I-‘

‘You’re talking to _Laurel_.’, Felicity shook her head.

Oliver understood what she meant, of course he did. So he looked at her for a couple of more seconds, then took a deep breath and looked at Laurel. His tone was calm, and his voice was low, but there was no mistaking the anger in his eyes.

‘I think it’s time you left, Laurel. And you shouldn’t come back, not before you realize that you have no right to interfere in my personal life, or in the Arrow’s life.’

‘Excuse me?’, she hissed, and Felicity took a few steps back, out of her way. She collided with Digg’s chest, who kept her upright by grabbing her shoulders. Roy made his way towards them too, and they were all looking at Laurel and Oliver fighting.

‘You heard me’, Oliver was yelling. ‘I know what you’re doing, it’s what you’ve always done, petty pranks to make me not like any girl you’ve felt threatened by. I will not stand for that, not here, and not ever. Do you understand?’

‘What’s so special about your fucking secretary?’, Laurel laughs, making Felicity flinch and turn around, burring her face in Diggle’s shirt.

‘She’s inappropriate, she has no idea how to actually be an EA, she talks when she shouldn’t, she can’t-‘

‘STOP IT!’, Oliver roared. Felicity closed her eyes.

‘I would have been dead 10.000 times if it wasn’t for Felicity’, he said in a tone that was closer to normal, but she still heard the anger in it and Laurel certainly did, because she scoffed.

‘You’re angry and you’re overreacting.’

‘I’m not talking about the blood’, Oliver pointed out. ‘My blood on her hands, while she’s sowing me up over and over again. And I’m not talking about her voice in my ear, guiding my bow night after night. And I’m not talking about the long board meetings and exhausting galas.’

Felicity heard Oliver sigh, and when he spoke again, his tone was soft, and caring, like he always was late at night, in the solitude of the empty office, or of her living room.

‘I am talking about all the times the thought of Felicity stopped me from killing myself, or from letting someone else do it without putting up a fight.’

Laurel was silent, and that gave Felicity the strength to turn around, to look at Oliver. Who was watching her with a small smile on his face, but the uncertainty in his eyes was clear to her.

She wanted to say something, but didn’t get the opportunity, because Laurel lashed out.

‘You’re unbelievable! I really thought you changed, Ollie, but you clearly haven’t. You still throw yourself in bed with every willing woman who can pull off a short skirt and-‘

‘Lady!’, Roy yelled, startling them all. ‘Either you shut up and leave, or I’ll drag you out by your hair.’

‘I’ll help’, Digg said, no infliction in his voice.

Felicity sighed. ‘I get that you don’t like me, and that’s fine. But you really shouldn’t treat Oliver like that.’

Laurel just glared at her.

‘You should leave’, Felicity tried again, shaking herself out of it and making her way back to the computer. ‘We have work to do.’

Laurel leaves, and nobody says anything for the rest of the night. Until Detective Lance calls Felicity, apologizing for his daughter. She brushes it off as much as she can, but he won’t have it. So she lets him talk, lets him come up with excuses for Laurel, but when he asks if it’s true, if she is sleeping with Oliver, Felicity snaps at him.

‘Look, Detective, will all due respect, that is none of your business. It isn’t anyone’s business but our own and I am tired of people… meddling.’

Lance sighs, and Oliver puts a hand around her shoulder, pressing their sides together.

‘Just be careful, will you?’, the Detective tells her, and she hears the smile. ‘Being with the Arrow might not be the most brilliant idea.’

She looks at Oliver, who’s still holding her, who’s standing stiffly by her side, a concerned look in his eyes. ‘Maybe not’, Felicity smiles. ‘Maybe it’s the best idea. But either way, it’s not your business. Or Laurel’s.’

‘Definitely not Laurel’s’, Oliver mutters, making her smile.

They don’t talk about it, her and Oliver. She talks with Digg about it, she talks with Roy about Laurel, but that’s about it, and the incident seems to be forgotten a couple of days later.

But when Oliver kisses her two weeks later, on her porch, at 4 am on a Tuesday night, both of them still wearing pajamas; after Oliver rushed to her in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, after he kisses her with all he’s got, after he makes her feel like it’s the last time, like the world is going to end tomorrow and they can’t afford to notbe together for as long as they have. After that, Oliver smiles at her confused expression, hugging her and burring his nose in her hair.

‘I figured out that if Tommy were alive, he would have convinced me to be with you months ago’, Oliver whispered, making Felicity tighten her hold on him. ‘And he would have put a leash on Laurel.’

Felicity laughs against his neck, takes a deep breath, and drags him in the house with her hands on his ass.


	52. The Clock King Reprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [holdthehurt](http://holdthehurt.tumblr.com/) asked: _Can you rewrite bits and pieces of the Clock King episode? And end it with Oliver patching Felicity's first bullet wound and telling her the infamous line "You'll always be my girl Felicity." except in a not so platonic way. Thanks!_
> 
> Of course, Oliver didn't hook up with Sara in this one. Everything else is pretty much the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are so polite when you ask me to write porn. Sadly, I still suck at writing porn. But ohmygod do I try.

Oliver hates seeing her like this. They’re in the lair, in the dark, surrounded by the smell of smoke and burnt metal, every piece of her tech scattered around them. Felicity’s holding herself together, working hard and frantic to put the pieces together again. But he sees that she’s not okay. She’s affected, and it’s obvious by the tight muscles in her back, and by the way she doesn’t meet his eyes.

‘It’s not your fault, Felicity’, he tells her for the third time. She smiles, looks at him fleetingly, and nods absently. She goes back to her work, and Oliver sighs, sharing a look with Diggle.

And then Sara’s there, asking him to go with her to the family dinner. But Oliver doesn’t want to, and he tries to get out of it, but Felicity brushed him off quickly.

₀•⁰

Dinner is a mess, chaotic and hurtful. Everybody’s screaming, and Oliver breaks down, detaches himself from Laurel. And Sara’s there, trying to support him, but he can’t stand it.

They go back to the Foundry, and Felicity calls, tells him she’s at the bank, and Oliver’s heart sinks. They rush there, and on the way, Diggle tells him about his conversation with Felicity. That’s she’s feeling out of place, useless now that Sara’s around.

Oliver just stares at him, trying to wrap his mind around it, because it’s a concept that is so foreign to him. How could she possibly think that?, Oliver wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t for her. He would be still broken, and the Arrow would still be killing people and –

‘How can she even think that?’, he whispers.

Sara curses, and Digg shakes his head.

‘Felicity’s not like us’, he says, ‘she needs affirmation, every once in a while. She’s not used to it, and she needs it.’

‘Okay’, Oliver sighs, thinking about all the things Diggle knows about Felicity, all the things that he doesn’t know, but also about how he will not let her ever believe this again.

₀•⁰

Oliver freaks out when she gets shot. Silently. But it doesn’t stop him from fussing over her, from batting Sara’s hands away and stitching her up himself.

He tries to be professional about it, but he can’t pull it off completely. Not when her skin is warm under his fingertips, not when the straps of her bra keep falling, not when she keeps giggling because of the drugs Digg gave her. It takes him twice as long as it should to stitch Felicity up, but he manages to blame it on the fact that he tried to make the future scar as small as possible.

After Sara and Diggle leave, Oliver talks to her. He wanted to reassure her, that team Arrow wouldn’t be anything without her, but he doesn’t get a chance to do so, because Felicity starts babbling.

‘I’m just used to being your girl’, she says, and Oliver’s heart stops beating.

‘I mean not your girl-girl. Your _girl_. I know it sounds like the same word, but it means something different in my head.’

She’s adorable, Oliver thinks. Her face is flushed, there’s embarrassment in her eyes, but she’s there, in front of him, still alive, her heart is still beating, even if her skin is scarred.

Oliver grabs her face before he even realizes he’s doing it, and smiles when he sees her close her eyes and snuggle into his touch, murmuring softly.

‘You will always be my girl, Felicity’.

‘Okay’, she whispers against his skin, making goosebumps appear on all his body.

₀•⁰

He drives her home, and Felicity spends the ride looking out the window, fingers drumming a beat on her knee. They don’t talk, not until they’re inside her house, and Felicity tells him to make himself at home, as she heads to the bathroom.

Oliver spends the time checking that all the windows in the house are closed, and then he snoops around her living room, taking everything in. The books, the equipment scattered everywhere, the photos, the toys. Everything screams _Felicity_ , and it makes him smile.

When she comes out of the bathroom, she’s still wearing his shirt. Without a bra, his traitorous mind supplies, and without any pants. She has a pair of fluffy socks on, her hair is down from her normal pony tail and she’s not wearing makeup anymore.

Felicity grins and he can’t help but smile back.

‘Are you hungry?’, he asks softly.

She shakes her head.

‘Do you want some tea?’

‘I just want to sleep.’

‘Good plan’, he nods and follows her up the stairs to her bedroom.

Felicity collapses into bed, groaning and snuggling her face into the pillows. Oliver swallows, and tries not to look at where the shirt rode up, revealing a black pair of boxers. He sighs and shakes his head, willing away images of those panties in his hands, and makes his way towards the bed, covering Felicity with the comforter.

She sighs happily, says ‘I’m your girl’, and Oliver can’t leave. He just can't. He planned on it, but now he just takes off his shoes and pants and settles in the armchair on the other side of the bed, feet crossed on it. He watches her sleep for a long time, counting her breaths and revealing in the fact that she’s alive and by his side.

₀•⁰

He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing Oliver knows is Felicity running a hand on the back of his neck.

‘You’ll hurt your back in the armchair’, she whispers, looking down at him. She grabs his hand and pulls at it. ‘Come to bed.’

Oliver doesn’t have the strength to argue. So he follows her to bed, and doesn’t say anything when she gets under the covers, when she pulls him after her. He doesn’t say anything when she snuggles up to his side, he just puts a hand around her shoulders and directs her head to rest on his chest.

Felicity sighs contently and falls asleep.

₀•⁰

He must fall asleep too, because the next things Oliver is aware of are Felicity’s lips on his and her knee between his legs. He opens his mouth to ask her what’s happening, but Felicity uses his confusion to slip her tongue past his lips.

And Oliver… Oliver doesn’t want to talk anymore.

He kisses her back, and when he does, Felicity melts against his body. She pushes herself up, until she’s straddling him and Oliver groans when their hips meet. She takes this as an invitation, kissing him harder and letting her hands roam over his body, pushing his t-shirt up.

Oliver grabs her neck, bring her closer still, delighted in the feeling of her breasts against his body. He grabs her ass with his other hand, and the moan Felicity breathes against his mouth makes his dick twitch. She feels it, because she smirks before kissing down his neck, gently biting at his pulse point and scratching her nails down his abdomen.

He drags his hands down her back, and she yelps, freezing. He freezes too, because he forgot. She’s hurt, she’s been shot tonight, she’s high on pain killers, she probably still isn’t thinking straight, this isn’t right, he’s taking advantage of her, he can’t-

‘Don’t stop’, Felicity moans, her lips moving against his neck. Then, she rolls her hips, sending a new wave of heat straight through his core. ‘Don’t ever stop.’

‘You’re injured.’, he tries, gently grabbing her shoulders and pushing her away a little bit.

‘It doesn’t hurt that much’, Felicity smiles.

‘You’re high’.

She sighs, letting her head fall down, her hair tickling his chest. ‘And you know I’d want this if I was completely sober too.’

He still hesitates. ‘I don’t want to screw this up. To screw us up.’

Felicity lifts her head instantly, looking down at him with big eyes, shock all over her face. ‘There’s an us?’, she whispers, and her voice cracks.

‘There’s always been an us.’, Oliver smiles. ‘But now, I… I’m not afraid of letting it happen anymore.’

‘And there will still be an us in the morning?’

He laughs, he can’t help it. She takes it as the answer it is, and gets off his body, but doesn’t go far. Felicity snuggles against his side, her leg thrown over his, her head resting on his chest. Oliver holds her close, kissing her forehead, and joins their hands together on his chest.

‘You better be here in the morning’, she threatens, pouting and squeezing his hand. He laughs, heart beating a mile a minute in his chest, giving her one last kiss and telling her to sleep.

₀•⁰

Since day one, Felicity has always been surprising Oliver. Today is not any different.

He wakes up in a blur, his mind taking a few long seconds to settle. He remembers where he is, remembers what happened the day before, the night before.

Felicity is still by his side, her body plastered to his. But she took off her clothes, and Oliver spends a god few seconds staring at her breasts, at their rise and fall as she breathes. When his eyes move to her face, he swallows thickly, because the look in her eyes is absolutely evil. It’s heated, and desperate and when their eyes meet, she squeezes him.

Only then does Oliver realizes that she has a hand down his boxers, wrapped around his cock, stroking him leisurely.

‘Fuck, Felicity!’, he groans, head falling back and eyes shutting on their own accord.

‘That’s the idea’, she giggles, moving fast and straddling him again.

Oliver just stands there, frozen in place, looking in bewilderment at her. Naked, on top of him, blonde locks a mess around her face, a smirk on her lips and heat in her eyes. She’s standing on his thighs, leaving enough space to still be able to jerk him off. Her hips are jerking slightly against his leg, her skit hot on every point of contact.

Oliver grabs the sheets, a groan escaping his lips as she quickens up the pace. He can’t take his eyes off her, and he’s in awe, again, because she’s enjoying herself. Jerking him off, not as fast as he’d want, stopping every time he gets too close, she’s tormenting him and she’s enjoying it.

When she stops, Oliver whines. Felicity laughs, and it eases his heart, but then she grabs him by his t-shirt and yanks him forward with all her strength, pulling him off the bed. She quickly takes off his shirt and Oliver kisses her, biting at her lip as she helps him take off his boxers.

He doesn’t get a warning, because she doesn’t stop kissing him. Felicity just eases herself on him, her warm flesh enveloping his cock, and Oliver looses it. He roars and moans, he puts a hand around her back and, as fast as he can, he gets her on her back, while he looks down at her, still buried to the bottom in her.

‘Come on’, she pants, licking a stripe up his neck. ‘Stop holding back’.

Oliver listens to her. He braces his hands on the sides of her face and moves his hips, as Felicity wraps her feet around his waist. They kiss, and they bite each other’s lips, and Felicity scratches his back, and he licks her nipples as he tries to catch his breath. He feels hot all over and he knows he will never forget how she feels under him. And he doesn't want to ever forget, or to ever stop.

‘Either you move faster, or you let me on top’, Felicity whispers at one point, and Oliver growls, but quickens his pace. She screams, then, his name, over and over again, her heels digging in his back, her nails scratching every piece of skin they can find.

His hands starts to shake, but he doesn’t want to stop, not when she’s still moaning his name and panting against his lips. So Oliver buries his face in her neck, trying to make it last as long as he can, and she moves her knees up on his body. Her moans turn into screams and it doesn’t take long until Felicity starts trembling under him, tightening around him and yelling his name. He comes soon after, whispering her name unto her skin, with her arms and legs wrapped tight around him.

They take a few minutes to catch their breaths, and Felicity’s the one to break the silence, giggling and plastering herself into his side.

‘That was great, but I think we can do better.’

Oliver doesn’t manage to speak yet, but he does make an interrogatory sound. Felicity slowly licks a stripe from his thigh to his chest, completely avoiding his cock, making him groan. She blinks innocently down at him and smiles.

‘I need to shower’, Felicity whispers around a smirk. ‘Wanna help me out? I’ve got this horrible injury on my back, I really don’t think I can shower by myself.’

And who is Oliver to deny her that? She was, after all, shot.


	53. I want to say yes, sir.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's this post on tumblr: _my dad is a cop and i just called him and he was like “hey i have a 17 year old boy in the back of my cop car right now that i’m running him to the station” and i asked if he was cute and my dad said “Hey, my daughter wants to know if you’re cute” and the guy said “i want to say yes, sir” and my dad started laughing so hard_
> 
> aka the highschool AU where Felicity is Officer Lance's daughter and Oliver is his teenage self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pissed myself laughing while writing this.

‘But I made lasagna!’, Felicity whines.

‘And I’ll eat it’, her father answers over the phone. ‘Eventually.’

‘Yeah, well… What is it this time?’                                             

‘I’ve got a 17 year old boy in the back of the squad car, I’m driving him to the station.’, Lance sighed, tired.

There was a pause. ‘Is he cute?’, Felicity’s voice was twice as high as normal.

‘Hey, kid!’, the police officer looks in the mirror, to the back of the car where the boy has been oddly silent during the conversation. ‘My daughter wants to know if you’re cute.’

He hears Felicity snort in his ear and he sees the boy frowning, their eyes locking in the rear-view mirror.

‘I want to say yes, sir.’, he says slowly, and Lance immediately starts laughing. He calms down fast, because Felicity’s screaming in his ear, asking what’s happening.

‘He said that he wants to say that yes, he is cute.’, he tells his daughter, spearing a look at the boy, who is still frowning.

‘Bring him to dinner, then.’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’, Felicity whines.

‘I have to arrest him! Are you insane? I’m not bringing him to dinner.’

‘Why are you arresting him?’, Felicity insists. ‘What did he do?’

‘Got drunk behind the school.’

She snorts. ‘That’s all? Really? He’ll be out of the cell in 30 minutes, when his parents come to pick him up.’

‘His parents are the ones who asked me to arrest him.’, Lance grumbles.

‘Really?’, the boy leans forward, pressing his forehead to the separating bars.

‘Whatever’, Felicity says, pointedly. ‘Bring him to dinner. You’ll do your whole bad cop routine and basically, you’ll still be doing your job without having all the other cops making fun of you for running errands for parents and you’ll get to eat my delicious lasagna while it’s still hot.’

‘And I’ll get to see the cute boy.’, she adds with a giggle after a beat.

Lance  looks to the kid still frowning in the backseat, and thinks to himself that an evening spent with Felicity might be exactly what he needs to get on the right track. It’s worth a shot, and he does owe it to his parents.

‘Kid!’, he jerks an elbow in the separating bars, startling the boy. ‘You like lasagna?’

‘Yes?’, he frowns and it comes out as a question.                             

‘Do you wanna try my daughter’s lasagna?’

‘Sure’, he doesn’t miss a beat. ‘Does that mean I’m not going to jail?’

‘You’ll prefer going to jail after you meet my girl!’

‘Hey!’, Felicity yells, affronted. ‘I heard that!’

‘Good’, her father snorts. ‘See you in 10.’

•₀•

Lance opens the door to their house and rushes the kid in, closing the door behind him and barking at him to take off his shoes. He does so, quickly, just as Felicity comes down the stairs.

‘Dad, I didn’t really think you’d be home this quick. Did you actually bring your perpetrator because that doesn’t seem like-‘

‘Felicity?’, the kid asks, breathlessly, making both of the Lances freeze.

Quentin looks to his daughter, frozen on the stairs, dressed in pink shorts and a ratty old Metallica t-shirt, with the collar cut in a V and several holes in its sleeves. She’s staring at the kid with eyes wide and mouth open, and he’s watching her with equal amounts of shock.

Felicity yelps, crossing her arms over her chest, like she wants to cover herself.

‘How do you know my name?’, she wheezes out, blushing furiously.

The kid frowns and tries to move his hands, not remembering they’re still cuffed behind his back. ‘I sit behind you in math. And English, and biology and chemistry.’

Felicity gapes for a few seconds, then turns to his father.

‘You arrested Oliver fucking Queen?’

‘Language!’, he rolls his eyes. ‘And yes, I arrested Oliver Queen because his parents asked me to, because I still owed them a favor, from when you hacked into the school network and gave every teacher a day off. Your principal wanted to suspend you, but Moira was kind enough to intervene.’

‘Oh my god’, Oliver breathes out. ‘That was you?’

‘Shut up!’, Felicity glares. ‘Ugh’, she moans, looking to the ceiling for a couple of seconds. Then, she sighs and takes the last steps down the stairs.

‘Come on’, she smiles at her father. ‘The lasagna’s getting cold. Uncuff him and go wash up, I’ll set the table.’

•₀•

It’s awkward, very awkward, but Quentin is very amused. He’s sitting at the head of the table, with the kids on either side of him. He keeps looking from Felicity to Oliver, laughing internally at their struggle.

They keep looking at each other, glancing, really, when they’re not staring at the food in their plates. When their eyes meet, they both look away quickly, and Felicity blushes instantly. Oliver tries to open his mouth a couple of times, but thinks better of it, looking back to his food, pouting every time.

After 10 minutes, Felicity snaps.

‘Dad! Did you just forget I go to the same school as him, or did you think it didn’t matter?’

‘I honestly forgot’, he shrugs. ‘So you two know each other, that’s nice.’

His daughter glares at him. ‘We do not know each other.’

‘Yes we do’, Oliver frowns.

Felicity finally looks at him, raising an eyebrow.

Oliver puts down his fork and looks her straight in the eye. ‘We share classes each day, you know my name, I know yours.’

‘That doesn’t count as knowing each other’, Felicity scoffs. ‘Everybody knows your name. And while it is surprising that _you_ know _my_ name, you don’t know anything about me.’

‘I know some’, Oliver smiles.

‘You do not.’, Felicity pouts.

He raises an eyebrow and spares a look towards her father, before smirking playfully and leaning forward a bit. ‘I know that you only write with a fountain pen, and that you got it from your father when you were 14. I know that _The Great Gatsby_ is your favorite book if any adult asks, but in fact it’s _The Hobbit_. I know that you only listen to rock music, and that you make your own color of lipstick. I know you’re the smartest girl in school and that you want to go to MIT. And I know that you’re afraid of kangaroos and that you’re allergic to peanuts. And that-’

Felicity stares at Oliver, her jaw, once again, dropped. He smirks, a satisfied look on his face, as he keeps talking, and he would have continued if Quentin didn’t pointedly clear his throat.

‘You didn’t sound like a stalker at all’, he narrows his eyes at the younger man.

Oliver blinks, the tips of his ears going red.

‘I am very lost.’, Felicity admits, picking up her glass and drinking her juice in one go.

‘Permission to speak freely, sir?’, Oliver asks Lance, who nods seriously, even though he’s barely containing his laughter.

The kid turns towards Felicity and blushes, as much as she does, and when he talks, he talks quickly and with his voice lowered somewhat.

‘You know you’re beautiful, right?’, Felicity’s eyes grow big at that, but Oliver continues. ‘Freshman year, Tommy saw you in the library, and tried to pick you up. You barely spared him a glance. He kept trying, for a couple of months, and you didn’t even answer him half the time. To this day, you are the only girl in the world who ever did that.’

‘That doesn’t explain anything’, Felicity frowns.

‘It kinda does’, Oliver chuckles, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. ‘You’re interesting’, he says, softly. ‘You’ve always been interesting.’

Quentin watches as her daughter's eyes flutter and as she grips her fork harder. There’s a quirk to her lips and her whole face is red, blush going down her neck.

‘We’ve been sharing classes and gym and lunch hours for three years’, Felicity frowns. ‘You haven’t said anything.’

‘Would you have listened?’, Oliver winces. ‘I’m not… the kind of guy you’d talk to.’

‘Shouldn’t I be the judge of that?’, Felicity frowns some more.

They’ve clearly both forgotten that her father is there, and he’s not going to say anything. Quentin’s biting his lip to keep from laughing and his food lays long forgotten, as he looks at the two oblivious kids at the table.

‘There’s more to you than on and off with Laurel, and getting drunk behind the school on a Tuesday night and playing pranks with Tommy on the seniors. Right?’, Felicity asks, somewhat hopefully.

Oliver nods, but doesn’t meet her eye. It still makes her smile.

‘Good.’, she breathes out, playfulness back in her tone. ‘So you’ll pick me up Friday at 7, in a car not on your bike, and you’ll take me to the movies.’

Oliver’s head snaps up.

‘Tommy can come too, if you want.’, Felicity smiles. ‘But you’ll make sure he doesn’t hit on me anymore.’

A beat passes, then two and three, but when Oliver finally nods, Felicity grins at him, even if the tips of her ears are still red.

‘I’ll go get the desert’, she says. ‘I hope you like ice cream, cause it’s the only thing we ever have in the house.’

Oliver watches her leave, an idiotic smile on his face, and Quentin runs his hand down his face.

‘I don’t have to tell you what I’m gonna do to you if you hurt her, right?’, he says, no inflection in his tone.

It still startles Oliver, who jumps so hard, he falls off his chair, completely in sync with the sound of Felicity dropping the ice cream bowls in the kitchen.

Quentin just sighs and gets up to call Moira.


	54. Slayer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Britany asked: _Prompt: I am not sure if you’re taking these still, but I had a bizarre dream that Felicity was a vampire slayer and protected Oliver without his knowledge. Then she is forced to reveal her identity while saving his ass. I figured if anyone could write an awesome prompt of this it would be you!_
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRITANY!

If she’s being completely honest, Felicity knew she’d end up here. She would have expected it to happen sooner, but somehow, she had managed to keep her true identity a secret from Oliver. And Digg, and Roy.

The irony doesn’t escape her, but she never has lead the most normal of lives.

So when she sees the footage of the drug deal Oliver tried to stop, when she sees the drug dealer transform and sees him pouncing on Oliver, she doesn’t second guess it. Screw the secret, she thinks, Oliver’s more important.

So she yells at him, through the comms, to stay put and not let him bite him. He’s half a block away, and Diggle’s already reaching for his guns, and Roy is on his way towards Oliver. Felicity tells Diggle to wait, and he does, surprisingly so.

He waits while Felicity trades her heels for a pair of trainers, thanking the heavens for deciding on wearing pants that morning. And he waits while Felicity rummages through her bag, pulling out a wooden stake.

‘Felicity?’, he inquires, an alarmed tone in his voice.

She heads up the stairs, and once outside, picks up her running pace, which he easily matches.

‘You saw the footage, Digg’, she tells him, but doesn’t meet his eye. ‘He has gold eyes, a very ugly mug and fangs.’

‘A wooden stake?’, he yells, incredulously. ‘Vampire? Are you fucking kidding me?’

She waves the stake around. ‘Your bullets won’t do much damage.’

Felicity picks up her pace, and Diggle matches it, running by her side.

When they get to the alley, Oliver is lying flat on the ground, the vampire looming over him. His fangs are close to Oliver’s neck, too close, and Felicity’s heart skips a beat. But she still rushes to them, ignoring Diggle’s yells, ignoring the way he has his gun drawn and she’s running straight into his shot.

The vampire’s looking at her now, Oliver forgotten on the ground.

‘Slayer’, he whispers, reverently, and Felicity uses his distraction to kick him in the stomach. Hard.

The vampire falls to the ground next to Oliver, hitting his head on the pavement and groaning. She doesn’t hesitate, puts a foot on his neck and shoves the stake straight in his chest.

He screams then, a horrible sound that she’s heard way too often, and disappears into a heap of ashes.

Felicity takes a second to catch her breath, picking up the stake and wiping the blood on it on her pants, grimacing all the while, before she shoves it in the back of her jeans. When she turns around, all the men are looking at her with wide eyes and their jaws drop.

Digg still has his gun trained in her general direction, Roy seems to have froze half way through knocking an arrow in his bow, and Oliver… Well, Oliver’s still on the ground.

He’s looking up at her with awe in his eyes. She wasn’t expected that. Not at all.

‘Are you hurt?’, she manages to whisper.

He shakes his head.

‘Get up then’, she orders, but tries to make her voice as soft as possible.

Oliver listens to her, and the second he stands on both his feet, his hands reach her. Frantically, his eyes moving all over her body, he runs his hands down her arms, up her neck, down her waist.

‘I’m okay’, she says breathlessly, pushing him away with a hand on his chest, with more force than she intended to.

He looks down at his chest, frowning. ‘You’re strong.’

‘And fast’, she nods. ‘And … genetically inclined to fight.’

‘What the hell is going on, blondie?’, Roy demands, finally moving towards her. Digg follows.

Felicity pushes her head down, sighing. ‘I’m sorry I lied to you. I couldn’t tell you, there’s laws, and I couldn’t…’. She takes a deep breath. ‘I was raised to fight vampires, and I was raised to keep the secret.’

‘Vampires?’, Oliver whispers, and she lifts her head to look at him. He seems confused, and maybe concussed, she thinks.

‘Yeah’, Felicity smiles. ‘You saw it’, she absently points to the pile of ash the kill left behind. ‘I’m a vampire slayer’, she chuckles, ‘and as fairytale as that sounds, the legends say that there is one of us born every generation. My Watcher, he’s my assigned protector, he found me when I was 10. A bit after my father left.’, her voice cracks and she looks away, speaking down at the pavement. ‘Uh. He taught me everything I know, but he died before I moved to Starling. A car crash, of all things. Nothing supernatural about it. The Council was supposed to send another Watcher, but they haven’t.’, she shrugs. ‘Maybe they lost track of me when I came to Starling, maybe they don’t care anymore. I don’t know.’

She doesn’t know what else to say, so she looks up, a dreadful feeling in her gut. But Oliver’s looking at her in awe, still, he’s looking at her like she’s the sun, with a smile on his face. It makes her heart skip a beat.

‘So you can fight.’, he nods, and Felicity recognizes the support he’s offering her.

‘Yeah’, she smiles back. ‘I’m sorry. I should’ve told you, I know, but-‘

‘No’, Oliver shakes his head, but doesn’t get to continue, because Digg interrupts him.

‘We would’ve locked you up if you had told us’, he raises an eyebrow, a fairly disgusted look in his eyes. ‘Hell, I saw it and I still can’t believe it.’

‘It’s been quiet’, she shrugs. ‘This is the first vampire I saw in the past six months.’

‘So we add vampires to the list of things we deal with’, Roy deadpanned. ‘Great. Just what I always wanted.’

Felicity snorts, throwing him a grateful smile. Then, she turns to Oliver and bites her lip.

‘You’re not mad?’

He shakes his head, running a hand down her shoulder, gently intertwining their fingers. ‘I’m in shock, to be honest.’

‘Understandable’, Felicity chuckles nervously, but squeezes his hand back nonetheless.

Oliver sobers up, then, quickly, straightening his back and furrowing his brows.

‘Just how well can you fight? And how fast and strong are you?’

Felicity raises an eyebrow. ‘I probably won’t defeat you.’, she smiles as innocently as she can manage. ‘I’m out of practice. But I sure as hell can give you a fight.’

He doesn’t seem to believe her, because he’s eyeing her suspiciously. They all are, actually, so Felicity thinks _why not?_ and rolls her eyes.

In three quick moves, she has Oliver on the ground beneath her, she’s straddling his legs and her hands are around his neck.

Felicity smiles down at him, raising her eyebrows.

‘You caught me off guard’, he wheezes out, but doesn’t move to get her off of him.

‘True’, she smiles, getting up and handing him a hand. ‘But I’m faster than you on the salmon ladder.’

Oliver freezes, eyebrows going up and his eyes stopping on her upper arms.

‘I timed it’, she giggles.

‘You did not’, Roy scoffs.

‘Did too’, Felicity sticks her tongue out. ‘Wanna place a bet?’

‘I’ll bet you won’t be able to get Oliver on his back again, when you’re fighting properly back in the lair’, Roy challenges and Diggle instantly hands him 5 bucks, betting against him.

They start walking back towards the lair, and Felicity just shakes her head, laughing silently, turning around to see Oliver again. He’s looking at her, still in awe and disbelief, but there’s a smile on his face. It falls quickly when their eyes meet, and he takes a step backwards, furiously shaking his head.

‘I can’t fight you! Are you crazy?’, he yelps, voice a bit too loud for the empty alley.

‘You fight Sara all the time!’, she raises her hands in frustration.

‘I know Sara can take it.’

Felicity snorts. ‘Then I’ll have to show you just how much I can take.’

Oliver blinks, and Felicity’s brain finally catches up with her mouth.

‘I’m not even gonna apologize for that particular innuendo. Cause it’s true.’

He trips over nothing, Roy groans and Felicity just grins, breaking into a run. ‘Last one home is in charge of making me a new stake.’


	55. Mark my skin with your mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a picture that appeared on my dash. Felicity gets an arrow tattoo.

inspired by [this picture](http://maisierse.tumblr.com/post/89358711832)

 

Felicity got the tattoo months ago. So long has passed since then, she even forgot she had it every now and then. For a few seconds.

She got it after the night with the Count. When she got home, even though she was exhausted, she found herself unable to keep still. Felicity doesn’t even remember how she got to googling arrow tattoos, she just remembers that she saw this particular one and fell in love with it instantly.

So, no matter how much she hated needles, she took a deep breath and walked down to the tattoo parlor two streets down. It was open for 24h, and the lone man behind the counter, who was covered in tattoos, looked at her like she was insane, when she came into his shop wearing cupcake pajama bottoms and an MIT t-shirt, at 3 am on a weeknight.

Felicity knows that this isn’t just _a random tattoo_. It means something, something important. It’s not just about her involvement with the Arrow, if she wanted a tattoo to symbolize that, she would’ve gotten a simpler design, or just an arrowhead.

But this design, the two headed arrow, with a lot of lines intertwining on it, this means so much more. Because that night, Oliver proved himself to her. Right then, Felicity didn’t care that Oliver didn’t love her, that he never will. All that mattered for her was that he was there when she needed it. He was important to her, and Felicity was sure that she was important to him too.

So Felicity got the tattoo. She would have fainted if she would have seen the gun piercing her skin, especially in the state she was in. The artist was the one who recommended her spine.

‘That’s perfect’, Felicity smiled. ‘I don’t need to see it, knowing it’s there is enough. And I don't wear low back dresses that much anyway.’

The tattoo artist narrowed his eyes at her then. ‘I was going to ask if you’re sure’, he said, oddly soft for the rough way he looked. ‘Cause you look like hell, doll, like you haven’t slept in months. But the Arrow saved you tonight, didn’t he?’

Felicity sighed and nodded, and two hours later she was back home, with a tattoo on her back and skin creams in her hand. The next day she was back in the Foundry, and everything was normal.

She didn’t tell Oliver about the tattoo. She didn’t tell Diggle either. She didn’t tell anyone.

Sara was the first one who saw it. The night they caught the Clock King, while she was stitching Felicity up, she saw it. Sara didn’t say anything, though. She just ran a finger over it, acknowledging its existence, and went back to the med supplies. It was only before Sara left with Nyssa that she said something. As she was hugging Felicity, she told her that she should show it to Oliver. ‘Later, when things calm down, when he has time to take a deep breath, you should show it to him. He’ll love it.’

Felicity didn’t say anything about it for a long time, but here she is now. 6 months after Slade, she’s back at the Queen mansion, celebrating by Oliver’s side. He got the company back, and all his fortune. The first thing he did was to donate a lot of money to the rebuilding of the city, all in Moira’s name. The second thing he did was to make sure QC will be actively involved in helping Starling City. The third thing he did was to ask Felicity to organize this party, it was a full on gala, really, for all the QC investors.

And Felicity thought back to Sara’s words, just as she was passing one of her favorite stores and seeing the dress in the display. It was black, and fairly simple, going around the neck and with a long skirt. But the back was bare, just two stripes of material connecting up towards the neck. She wore it with a pair of gold heels and some jewelry, a black smoky eye and her hair braided up.

It took a long while for Oliver to see it. Even though they spent most of the party together, he was always by her side, he didn’t see her back.

Roy was the first of the team to see it, and he quickly showed it to Diggle too. They asked if it was new, and Diggle threw her an understanding smile when she told him she got it after the Count.

But Oliver didn’t see it. So when the party was dying down, and he asked her to dance, Felicity gladly took his invitation. They danced for a few songs, his hands burning her skin and his words burning her heart. He thanked her, over and over again, for everything that she did for him.

Oliver told Felicity that he couldn’t have done it without her, that he owes her a lot of things, and that he doesn’t know how he will ever be able to repay her. That he values her friendship, and her love, and his voice broke over that word. Felicity remembers the last time  they were together in the mansion, she remembers everything, how she felt when he said those words, how scared she was after he left.

Oliver must know what she’s thinking about, because he holds onto Felicity tighter. A sob escapes her lips, and his hands come up to her lower neck, gently guiding her head into the crook of his neck.

She stays there for a couple of seconds, just breathing him in and taking the comfort she needs. When her breath is back to normal, she pushes up on her toes and whispers in his ear.

‘After the Count, I did something. You should spin me around and see for yourself.’

She pushes back so she can look at him, and Felicity has to smile at his confusion. There’s a wrinkle between his brows and his lips are puckered. But he listens to her, Oliver gingerly squeezes her hand and spins her around.

Felicity goes with it, lets him guide her. He doesn’t stop her when he sees her back, but she hears his sharp intake of breath when he sees the tattoo.

Oliver doesn’t let go. He holds Felicity tight against his body again, his hand lying straight on top of the tattoo. They dance for another song, and he doesn’t say anything. But he doesn’t let go of her, and he doesn’t look away. His eyes bore into hers, and Felicity feels herself blushing, but she doesn’t care. Because Oliver is here, and he is holding her, and he doesn’t seem to care about anything else either.

‘You hate needles’, he finally says, as the song ends.

Felicity smiles and grabs his hand, guiding him to the bar. He follows, not saying anything when she orders them both a glass of champagne.

‘I do hate needles’, she smiles after she takes a small sip. ‘But I do love you.’

Oliver doesn’t get to answer, because Digg and Roy make their way to them then. They all drink champagne, and joke back and forth, carelessly talking about their day job and their night job and about what the future holds for Oliver Queen and Team Arrow.

But Oliver barely takes his eyes off her. And he barely takes his hands off her back. And he doesn’t let Felicity go home that night. And even in the morning, he still barely lets go of her.


	56. One last try

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [dreamyuniversestuff](http://dreamyuniversestuff.tumblr.com/) asked: _prompt: the last scene you would like to see on arrow between olicity if you could write it:)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? Two in a day? I said a couple of days ago this won't happen as often. But, alas, I wrote like 6000 words today. It just happened, and this one's pretty short. So here you go, another update for today! :)

After months of fighting, the Arrow finally defeated Ra’s al Ghul and managed to contain his followers. It was a mess, months and months of frustrating dead ends, long fights that left them all bruised and bloody, sleepless nights and highly emotional breakdowns.

But it was done. Tonight, it was all done. It felt like a repeat of the whole Slade business, with Felicity letting herself get kidnapped so that Oliver could get in the same room with Ra’s al Ghul. But it all ended well. There wasn’t a bruise on her body and in a matter of days, all of the League of Assassins will be imprisoned on Lian Yu.

Everybody else went home, so Felicity and Oliver were alone in the Foundry. She was, as usual, sitting at her computer, but she wasn’t really doing anything, just checking her internet feeds and playing around. She was waiting for Oliver to finish his workout. He was up on the salmon ladder, getting rid of all the adrenaline still left behind by the fight, and the sound of metal on metal brought calm to Felicity.

She was waiting for Oliver, so they could go home.

 _Home_.

They’ve been together for a year and some. He moved in with her after 6 months. ‘It’s too soon’, a voice that sounded like Felicity’s mother kept ringing in her head, but she didn’t listen to it.

Frankly, everything was better after they finally got together. They worked better during the day at QC, they worked better during the nights in the lair. They still fought and disagreed, of course they did, but they dealt with it in their own way, never forgetting the love they held for one another. She calmed him, and he kept her focused.

It was surprisingly easy, being with Oliver. And everything else seemed easier with Oliver by her side.

‘I almost lost you tonight’, his voice cut through her thoughts. ‘Again.’

His voice was gruff, but he didn’t stop moving up on the salmon latter.

Felicity turned around in her chair, crossing her feet and putting her hands in her lap. She looked up at him, sweaty and panting, and couldn’t help but smile.

‘But you didn’t. Because you saved me. Again.’

‘You should quit’, he said, finally getting down from the ceiling.

Felicity frowned. ‘I’d never quit you.’

That made him smile, just a bit, but it was soon replace with a frown. Oliver made his way towards her, stopping in front of her chair. Felicity didn’t get up, but that didn’t stop Oliver from putting a hand on her shoulder and running his thumb across her collar bone.

‘You shouldn’t quit me, Oliver. But you should quit the Arrow’.

His voice echoed in the large empty space, and Felicity’s heard her own heart beat, just a bit faster, like it always was when Oliver was touching her.

She got up and took a hold of his hand, squeezing his fingers gently, getting close to him without touching.

‘You know’, she smirked. ‘It is extremely weird when you speak of yourself in the third person.’

That got an eye roll from him.

‘But’, Felicity smiled, ‘it’s even weirder when you do the whole split personality disorder thing.’

‘What.’, Oliver frowned.

‘You still speak of yourself in terms of Oliver and the Arrow, separating them, like you’re half Oliver and half the Arrow.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s weird, and it’s wrong. It’s been wrong for quite some time now, because you’re the same, Oliver.’

He frowned some more and Felicity chuckled at his confusion. She brought her hands up around his neck, hugging him tightly, not caring that he was still shirtless and very sweaty. Oliver’s hands instantly came around her waist and he sighed into her hair.

‘Oliver and the Arrow are the same person’, Felicity whispered. ‘It’s you, it’s all you. So if I’m not ever quitting you, then I’m never quitting the Arrow. And honestly now,’, she teased, ‘you should really stop asking that of me. You know my answer’s not going to change.’

‘I don’t want to lose you’, he held Felicity tighter.

‘And I don’t want to lose you either’, she smiled, placing a barely there kiss on his jaw line. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’ll ever ask you to stop being the Arrow. So you should stop asking me that.’

He sighed, but nodded slightly, rumbling a bit when her hair tickled his cheek.

Felicity smiled, feeling his chest vibrate against hers. ‘And you should go shower’, she kissed his jaw, ‘and get dressed’, his cheek, ‘and take me home’, the corner of his mouth, ‘and put me to bed’. When she kissed his lips, he responded immediately, opening his mouth so their tongues could touch, gripping her ass so he could bring her closer still, groaning low in his throat when she bit on his lip.

When they pulled apart, Oliver wordlessly headed to the shower, taking his pants and boxers off on the way, smirking cockily when Felicity groaned at the sight of his naked ass.

\--

Felicity shuts off all the lights in the lair, like she always does. Oliver grabs her hand as soon as they’re out in the parking lot. They’re silent as they get into Felicity’s car, but they’re both smiling.

She puts the keys in, turns on the engine, and pauses. She turns around, looks for a few seconds at the back seat, then glares at Oliver.

‘You still owe me for the upholstery.’

Oliver laughs and kisses her nose.


	57. It's not just about YOU anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [canadianheartgirl](http://canadianheartgirl.tumblr.com/) asked: _Ok,just bc I’m feeling kind of evil today I want Oliver and Felicity to fight! A full blown heated confrontation,like we saw when he discovered she told Barry about his identity,or when she yelled at him bc of Digg and Carly,or when he lost track of Shrapnel. I thought Established Relationship,but didn’t come up with a motive,though…I’m sure you’re gonna come u with something to make them loose their heads!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UHM. So. I've been having this idea in my head for a while. This particular medical problem. Figured I should hook it up with this prompt. Uhm. It's angsty. And sad. But cool in the end ^.^  
>  **Trigger warning** : cancer.

They were together for two and a half years. They never talked about children, not really, how could they? With the crazy life they lived, in the QC office and in the lair, they barely had time to be together, talking about having children seemed pointless.

Over the past months, her period had gotten worse. It was always late, it was always for a couple of days more than usual, and the first few days always hurt a lot, like never before.

She went to the doctor, and Oliver came with her. Cancer, the doctor said. In her uterus. They caught it early, so it’s not very life threatening. She has options. Surgery to get the tumor out, she could still have children and her body would still function normally, but there’s a high change the cancer will return later on, and it might be worse. Or surgery to extract her uterus, she wouldn’t have children anymore, her body would adjust, in time, to the change, but the chances of the cancer returning would be slim.

The doctor gives them a week to think about it.

Felicity feels numb, as Oliver drags her to the car. She’s crying, but they don’t talk. Not until they’re back at home, in the bed. They’re facing each other, buried under the covers, and Oliver holds on to her hand.

‘What do you want?’, he whispers when he sees that Felicity stopped crying.

‘I want it done’, she breathes out. ‘I can’t… I won’t… Take it out. Take it all out.’

Oliver freezes. He closes his eyes and that breaks Felicity’s heart.

‘Don’t you want kids?’, his voice is cold.

‘Not like this. I want… If I have kids, I want to be there for them, not to die because of something that could have been avoided. I can’t risk that, I… I want it all out.’

‘No’, Oliver whispers, letting go of her hand.

‘What?’

‘I’m not letting you do that.’

Felicity just blinks.

‘This isn’t just about you anymore. It’s about us. I’m in, you know I am, forever. With you, forever.’, there’s tears in his eyes and his voice cracks. ‘This isn’t about you, it’s about us.’

‘Oliver, I-‘

‘No’, he says more forcefully. ‘You’re scared, and I understand that. But you’re being selfish.’

‘This is selfish?’, she starts crying again.

‘Yes’, Oliver breathes out. ‘Because you do, you do want kids, and so do I. And you’re letting your fear cloud your judgment.’

‘There’s other options’, Felicity raises her voice. ‘Adoption, surrogacy, -‘

‘It’s not right!’, he yells back, sitting up in bed. ‘They wouldn’t be ours.’

‘So what?’, she gets out of bed, yelling. ‘You want to risk it? To risk me? You want to have a kid or two, and then for me to die and leave you? Leave you, to raise them, on your own?’

‘That’s not going to happen.’, Oliver roars, getting up as well and staring her down across the bed.

‘You don’t know that’, Felicity cries. ‘It’s a possibility, a high possibility. And I can’t take that! I can’t bring a child into this world, knowing I won’t be able to take properly good care of it. How dumb would that make me? How evil?’

He shakes his head and takes a deep breath. ‘I can’t look at you right now.’, he whispers and Felicity feels her heart explode. ‘I’m sleeping on the couch.’

Oliver storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Felicity cries herself to sleep that night.

⃝

It’s bad. It was never this bad. They fought and argued, but it was never like this.

Oliver is gone when she wakes up the next morning. She waits a couple of hours, but he doesn’t come back, even though it’s a Saturday. Felicity calls, he doesn’t answer. Felicity texts, he doesn’t answer.

Roy texts her, telling her that Oliver’s in the lair, working out like crazy.

‘At least he’s safe’, she texts back, and starts crying again.

Felicity spends the day researching, everything she can about her condition. She reads from medicine books and other publications, she reads testimonials and goes on forums. She barely stops crying. It doesn’t change her decision.

Oliver doesn’t come back that night. Or the next day.

⃝

Felicity breaks that second night spent alone. It’s 3 am when she texts Oliver.

‘If you want to leave, please have the decency to tell me. If you want me to leave, just say the words and I will. I am begging you, tell me what you want.’

He’s there 20 minutes later. Wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt she knows is Roy’s, his eyes red and massive dark circles under them. She knows she looks worse.                                                                                                                          

Felicity doesn’t even have the power to get out of bed anymore. So she lies there, on her side, facing him, biting her lip to keep from sobbing.

‘I want you’, he says gruffly, sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her.

‘All of you. Always. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine. I want to spend the rest of our lives together, fighting side by side. I want to marry you and I want to raise a family together.’

‘I can’t give you that anymore’, Felicity whispers, tears falling down her face. ‘I can’t. Yes, I’m selfish, okay. I’m ignoring what you want, but I can’t think… I can’t think about my baby growing up without a mother. I can’t think of you growing old without me.’

‘What if that’s not going to happen?’, Oliver whispers, taking hold of her hand. ‘What if you’ll still be here? What if-‘

‘What if I won’t?’, she cries. ‘I can’t take that risk, Oliver. I can’t, and I won’t. Please, just… I am begging you, don’t ask that of me.’

He doesn’t say anything.

‘Leave me, ban me from the lair, from your life, but don’t ask that of me.’

She tries to catch her breath after the words are out of her mouth, but she can’t. Felicity cries harder, sobbing, and she turns her head into the pillow.

Oliver is silent for a long time, and when he moves, Felicity’s still crying. He lies beside her on the bed, curling his leg around hers and bringing her to his chest with a hand on her waist.

‘I love you’, he says, and his voice cracks. ‘I can’t leave, and I don’t want you to.’

Felicity buries her face into his neck and fists her hands in his shirt.

‘I won’t ask you to do anything’, he whispers. ‘I’ll be there for whatever you decide. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t leave me’, she cries, and he holds her tighter.

‘Never. No matter what, never again. I’m sorry I left, I’m so sorry.’

They fall asleep in each other’s arms, whispering _I love you_ s and crying together.

⃝

When Felicity goes into surgery, Oliver is there. He’s there when she wakes up, and as she recovers.

The doctor removed the uterus entirely, as she requested, and after it’s done, he assures them that everything is well.

Oliver proposes six months after that. They’re naked, in bed, and he’s running his fingers over her scar. It’s a nasty thing, but he tells her the same thing she always told him: _a scar isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of survival._

Years later, when they decide to have children, they turn to a surrogate mother. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, and the first thing she tells them is: ‘I talk nonstop, and I can’t control the stupid things that come out of my mouth. The reason why I’m single is because of all the dumb innuendos. Are you sure you want your kid to inherit that?’

Felicity starts laughing, and crying, and she hugs her tight, while Oliver nods and tells the surrogate that it’s one of the reasons he fell in love with his wife.


	58. maid of honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Thea comes back, but she doesn't want to live with Oliver, so Felicity lets her stay in her house. They become friends and Thea tells her, she'll be her maid of honor. On her wedding with her brother._

It was weird, at the beginning. When Thea came back and found out Oliver’s secret, she told him that she didn’t want to live with him, or with Roy. She wanted to be independent, as much as possible.

But they couldn’t afford to get her a flat, Oliver barely had the funds to pay for his own little one bedroom apartment. So Felicity offered her guest room, and Thea gladly accepted it.

It was weird, living with her under the same roof. They weren’t close, they never were, they barely knew each other. But slowly, their relationship evolved.

Firstly, it was little things, learning how the other one liked to have her coffee, what she liked to eat. They learned each other’s routines and tried their best to not interrupt. But then, Thea started asking questions about the Arrow. Felicity answered them, as best as she could, telling her stories and making her understand. Then, Thea started asking personal questions, and Felicity answered those too, asking questions of her own.

After four months, they were friends. They worked well as roommates, and they had fun. Felicity didn’t bat an eye when Roy spent the night, and Thea didn’t comment when Felicity would spend hours ranting about this or that.

Thea started coming out to the lair, at some point. Kissing Roy (much to Oliver’s exasperation), teasing Oliver (much to Felicity’s amusement), shooting arrows (much to everyone’s surprise), doing yoga with Felicity and getting some self defense lessons from Digg.

It was good.

Thea was a whirlwind, energetic and so, so colorful. That’s how Felicity saw her. She was a strong woman, who went through a lot of bad things, but it only made her stronger. She always managed to bring a smile to Felicity’s lips, even in the darkest of moments, and Felicity enjoyed having her around.

She saw that Oliver was a lot more relaxed, Roy too. They both accepted their friendship, even though they both groaned when the girls would team up to tease them.

Felicity thought she knew Thea. And she did, but one night, Thea shocked her so much, Felicity fell off her chair.

‘Are you okay?’, the younger Queen bent down next to her, helping her get up and back at the dining room table.

Felicity blinked a couple of times, staring at her.

‘Why would you say that?’, she managed to ask.

Thea frowned. ‘Do you not want me as your maid of honor?’

‘Of course I do’, Felicity didn’t hesitate in answering. ‘I love you and there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll be there but… uh…’

‘But what?’

‘I’m not going to marry Oliver.’, Felicity said, slowly.

Thea took a step back, shocked. It was quickly replaced with anger.

‘Why not?’

‘Because that’s not… we’re not…’, she sighed. ‘We’re not together.’

‘Bullshit, you can stop hiding it from me.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘We’re not. I think I’d know if I was dating Oliver.’

‘Bullshit’, Thea repeated, less sure.

‘I love him’, Felicity smiled. ‘And he loves me and I need him as much as he needs me. But we’re not… like that.’

‘You’re serious.’, Thea frowned.

Felicity shrugged and went back to her food. Thea didn’t say anything for the rest of the night.

•••

She didn’t say anything for a few days. Roy did. One night, he came back early from a patrol and asked Felicity about Oliver.

‘What about him?’, she frowned.

‘I had an interesting conversation with Thea.’

Felicity groaned.

‘Don’t get me wrong’, Roy shrugged, ‘it’s not my business and I don’t want to get involved, but I thought you were dating too.’

‘We’re not.’

‘Why not?’, he insisted.

‘Because, Roy!’, she snapped. ‘Just because!’

Oliver came down the stairs at that moment and asked what was happening.

‘Nothing’, Felicity sighed. ‘Just a misunderstanding. Everything’s fine.’

Oliver didn’t look like he believed her, and he glared at Roy, but didn’t push.

•••

The next day, Diggle called. As always, he was straightforward.

‘So I just had a very awkward conversation with Thea.’, he said. ‘Is there anything you want to tell me?’

‘No.’, she groaned.

‘Is there everything you want to talk about?’

‘No, Digg’, Felicity sighed. ‘Everything’s as it usually is, Thea is just… meddling. I’ll talk to her. Now, tell me about mini-Digg.’

And that stirred John away from the topic.

•••

Felicity wanted to talk to Thea, tell her to back down, but she didn’t get a chance, because the younger Queen spent the next couple of nights at Roy’s.

When Oliver knocked on her door one night, come 2 am, Felicity opened it and groaned.

‘Thea talked to you, didn’t she?’

Oliver nodded, the tips of his ears red.

‘Well come on in’, she said, as sarcastically as she could, walking to her living room and sitting on the couch, knees drawn up to her chin.

Oliver followed her on a slower pace, awkwardly sitting down on the other side of the couch.

‘Look, we don’t have to talk about this’, Felicity tried. ‘It’s not the first time someone assumed… that, and it probably won’t be the last. We just have to put some more work into explaining to Thea that it’s not like that and everything will go back to normal.’

Oliver eyes her, wearily. ‘Really? That’s it?’

Felicity shrugged. ‘Is there anything else?’

He tilted his head. ‘Do you… Do you think it’s impossible?’

‘No?’, she frowned. ‘No’, Felicity said more forcefully. ‘Everything’s possible.’

Oliver winced. ‘That’s not what I meant.’

Felicity sighed and wordlessly made her way towards the bar. She poured two glasses of red wine, handed him one and drank half of hers in one go.

Oliver was watching her with a confused frown on his face.

‘I love you’, she said and Oliver stopped breathing. ‘You know that, and I know you love me too. I’m not going to stand here and lie to you, tell you that we could never be together, that we wouldn’t work, that we shouldn’t consider it. I’m don’t lie to you, so…’, she took a deep breath. ‘So I’m not going to say that.’

Felicity smiled at him, then turned to look at the tv. ‘I’m going to say what I always say. Well, what I always don’t say, but it’s implied.’, she chuckled, not looking at him. ‘I want to be with you, but I know you don’t, so that’s okay.’

‘It’s not, though.’, Oliver whispered, and when Felicity looked at him, he was frowning, his fists clenched in his lap.

‘It’s not true’, he continued. ‘I do want that, but I can’t.’

Felicity froze, because it was the first time he ever acknowledged his own feelings.

‘You think you can’t’, she soldiered on, surprised by her courage.

‘I’d put you in danger’.

‘You already do. And I choose it. My life, my choice.’

‘I’ll hurt you.’

Felicity sighed. ‘Would you, though? Cause you already did.’ That made Oliver flinch, but she continued. ‘When you told me you couldn’t be with someone you could care about, and got together with Sara a couple of weeks later. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging and I don’t have anything against Sara, obviously, but it hurt me when you did that.’

Oliver didn’t say anything, but he was breathing heavily and staring at his fists.

‘I got over it, though.’, Felicity whispered. ‘I understood that you were protecting me, and I respected that much more than it hurt.’

He still didn’t say anything so Felicity finished the rest of her wine and sighed.

‘I know you’ll never do anything to hurt me, intentionally. And that’s enough for me. But it clearly isn’t enough for you and that’s okay’, she was quick to assure. ‘It’s okay, and I understand it, and I won’t push the matter. I’ll talk to Thea, get her to back down.’

Oliver finally looked at her. ‘I talked to her already’, he smiled. ‘She’ll back down.’

‘Good, great!’, Felicity playfully clapped her hands. ‘That’s awesome.’

‘But _I_ am not backing down.’, Oliver added, looking her straight in the eyes and smiling.

‘What?’

He sighed and straightened his back. ‘I want to be with you, Felicity, but before that, I need to prove it to you, and to myself, that I am worthy of you.’

Felicity stood shocked still, as he got up and shoved his hands in his pockets, smiling playfully at her.

‘So tomorrow night, I’ll pick you up at 7. We’ll go see a movie and then I’m cooking you dinner.’

He grinned and Felicity took a few moments to catch her breath back.

‘Like a date?’, she shrieked, making Oliver laugh.

‘Like a date’, he nodded. ‘You should get some rest, it’s late.’

Felicity just nodded, and didn’t move as Oliver gave her a short kiss on the cheek. Then, he was gone.

When she came back down to Earth, Felicity texted Thea. _I don’t know what you told him, but thank you._


	59. I see my usual tell tales in you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [missyporcelain](http://missyporcelain.tumblr.com/) asked: _So, would you do an established Olicity where Oliver thinks Felicity is cheating on him? Thank you!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why would you do this to me? Why? WHY?  
> Eh. I hope I found a good enough reason for it. *cough cough* Ray Palmer.

Oliver and Felicity have been together for 6 months now. After Slade, it only took a week of Oliver living in her guest room to man up and tell her that the three words he said to her were true, not just a rouse to trick Deathstroke.

They were happy. Everything around them was crashing and burning, but they were happy together.

Felicity has been working as Ray Palmer’s EA for 5 months, since he took over QC. Oliver hated it, Felicity hated it too. She tried her best to be professional, and every day she would work hard, trying to find a way for Oliver to get back his family business.

And they both worked together, with Roy and Diggle, sometimes Laurel and her father, keeping the city as safe as they could, with the help of the Arrow.

But in the last month, Oliver sensed things changing.

Felicity grew distant. Not much, but he felt it. She hesitated before kissing him, she went to bed facing the other way from him. She was spending more time at the office, after hours, spending a lot of time with Palmer.

She was cranky. Not just towards him, but towards everyone. Felicity lashed out more, every time she trained she was very angry. She was always tired, borderline exhausted, and Oliver hated it.

He recognized the signs, because he acted the same way before, more than once. He thought Felicity was cheating on him with Palmer. Oliver didn’t want to believe it, but the signs were there.

Every time her boss would call, she’d step out of the room. She avoided talking about Palmer, ducking her head every time someone else would mention his name. She still worked hard alongside Oliver, and she would still wake up in his arms and kiss him good morning, but there was a hole in Oliver’s gut, and he couldn’t get rid of it.

God damn it, he was supposed to be strong. He’s a hero, as Felicity keeps telling him, he’s strong and ruthless if needed, he shouldn’t be shaking right now, standing in front of her, the kitchen island between them.

‘What’s wrong?’, Felicity’s asking, concern seeping through her features.

‘I… I need you to be honest with me.’, Oliver says, taking a deep breath and not looking at her. ‘I need you to tell me, if you want me to move out, if you want to stop coming into the lair, but please, I am begging you, don’t lie to me.’

‘What?’, Felicity whispers, brokenly, and he still can’t look at her.

‘Please.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Oliver tries to keep his tears at bay, but he knows it’s not successful. But he has to push on, so he takes a deep breath and clenches his fists, looking down at them.

‘If you don’t want to be with me anymore, please just tell me. If you want to be with him, I’ll understand and step away.’

There’s a silence that stretches out for a few moments, until Felicity stands up, her chair falling down with a loud thud.

‘What the fuck?’, she shrieks, and Oliver flinches, because Felicity almost never swears. ‘Him? Him who?’

‘Palmer’, he grits out, and when he looks up, there are tears in Felicity’s eyes and her jaw is slack.

‘You…’, she narrows her eyes. ‘You think I’m cheating on you? With him?’

He doesn’t say anything, and looks back down.

‘No’, she shrieks. ‘Answer me. Is that what you think?’

‘Yes’, he whispers, wiping away a tear from his cheek.

‘Why?’

He shrugs. ‘I know the signs, because I was the one doing them before. To Laurel and...'

‘And you honestly think that I would do that? To you? After everything?’

She’s crying, he hears it. He is too, and his heart is breaking in a million pieces.

‘I just want you to be happy’, he says, surprising himself by how much he means it. ‘If I can’t give you that, then I’ll let you go.’

‘Oliver’, she says sternly, a hint of anger seeping through. ‘You think that I would be capable of doing that to you?’

It takes a long while for him to answer, but she waits him out.

‘I deserve it’, he finally says, nodding and looking up at her. ‘I don’t deserve you, and I deserve to be hurt by you.’

That makes Felicity gasp and stumble a step backwards.

‘You’re so stupid’, she spits out, and it makes his stomach turn. ‘I love you’, she says, angry and hurt. ‘I love you so much and I have for so long. And now, I finally have you, and you think I’d just throw that away? And for what, for him? I hate Palmer. He disgusts me and I have vivid dreams about flushing his head down the toilet.’

Oliver looks up at that, how could he not. His expression makes Felicity snort out a laugh, but she shakes her head and becomes serious again.

‘You actually think that and I… What does that say about me? What does that say about how you see me, Oliver?’

‘You don’t trust me.’, she shakes her head, curling her arms around herself. ‘After everything, you still don’t trust me and that hurts me the most.’

‘What happened, then?’, he bursts out, a plea in his voice. ‘This past month, you’ve been different. What happened?’

‘A lot of things’, Felicity sighs. ‘I wasn’t … It’s my fault, for not telling you, but I wanted to wait.’

‘Please’, Oliver begs, not taking his eyes off Felicity. ‘Please tell me.’

Felicity sighs, but she moves. She rounds the island until she’s next to him, hopping up to stay on the counter, bringing her legs up in his lap. They’ve done this time and time before, and he doesn’t even think, just brings his hands up her thighs, like he always does.

She smiles, sighing deeply. But she takes his hands in hers and bends down to rest her cheek against them. Felicity closes her eyes and when she talks, it’s soft and whispering, and even though they’re both still crying, it brings a bit of calm to Oliver.

‘I’m going to start by saying that you’re stupid, but I love you, so I forgive you. You’re stupid for believing that I would do something like that, but I appreciate that you spoke to me about it. That was a brave thing to do, and I can only imagine how much it took for you to do it. So I respect you for it.’

‘I’m sorry for not being as strong as you’, she laughs slightly, ‘because I know, I know I should have spoken to you earlier but I… I couldn’t.’

Oliver squeezes her hands, showing as much support he can, even though his heart is pounding, and even though she’s in his arms, he’s still afraid of losing her.

‘Three major things happened in the past month’, Felicity whispers, oddly serious again.

‘Firstly, my mother told me that she wants to meet you. That we should take a few days off, and visit her in Vegas.’

When she doesn’t continue, Oliver takes a deep breath. ‘That’s not a bad thing.’

‘It is. Because as much as I love my mother, she doesn’t love other people. She’s judgmental, and mean, and when you do meet her, she’s going to mop the floor with you, thinking she’s doing me a favor.’

‘Nobody is good enough for their child’, Oliver shrugs. ‘I remember my mother telling me that.’

‘Yeah’, Felicity sighs. ‘But that doesn’t give her the right to not trust my judgment, criticize my decisions, make me feel stupid for making them, and treat the people I love like they’re trash.’

‘I can handle that’, Oliver tries, softly. ‘I can change her opinion.’

‘Oliver’, she looks up at him, a teasing tone on her lips. ‘You don’t even believe you deserve me, how will you convince someone else of that?’

He doesn’t have an answer to that, and Felicity just nods and rests her head back on their intertwined hands.

‘We’ll work on that in the future. Moving on to the second thing.’

She takes a deep breath, bracing herself, and speaks in a stronger tone.

‘I am very close to convincing Palmer to give you the company back.’

Oliver gasps before he can control himself. Felicity ignores him.

‘He can’t handle it, he can’t handle running a company this big. Especially in the state it was in when he came around. And don’t get me wrong, you weren’t best at it either, but you are better than him.’

‘I’m doing most of the work’, Felicity sighs. ‘He’s the one who makes the final decisions, but they’re highly influenced by me. And the thing is, he knows it. And everybody else in the board of directors, the investors and the people working at QC, they see it too. And they talked to him about it, and my god, I hate the man, but it’s been hard for him. He’s lost, and he doesn’t know what to do, and he realizes that getting you back is the best decision he could make. Now I’m just waiting for him to be man enough and do it.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’, Oliver blinks.

‘I wanted to surprise you? Maybe. I wanted to make sure it was going to happen, before I gave you false hope.’, she shrugs. ‘As I said. It was a mistake on my part.’

Oliver swallows around the lump in his throat and pushes a strand of hair behind Felicity’s ear. ‘What’s the third thing?’

It takes a long time for Felicity to talk again. She freezes, and her breathing becomes heavier. Her palms are sweating and they’re shaking, slightly. In the end, she closes her eyes and speaks so low, Oliver has a hard time hearing her, even if they’re standing very close.

‘I had a pregnancy scare.’. Oliver stops breathing.

‘It’s not, it didn’t happen, I’m not… But… It made me think. And it scares me. Cause, I didn’t… for months, I didn’t think I’d ever get to have you, to be with you. And now, I’m thinking about having your children and marrying you and it’s… We’ve only been together for 6 months… It’s soon, it’s too soon, I know. But it feels right. And it’s scary.’

It takes him a few seconds, but Oliver bends down and kisses her. With all he has. He stands up, not once taking his lips from hers, settles himself between her thighs and cups her face. There are tears on both their faces, and neither of them is breathing properly, but Oliver feels everything settling into place.

When they break apart, he smiles when he looks at her.

‘So you’re not cheating on me with Palmer?’

‘Nooooo’, Felicity groans, making his smile widen.

‘And you have no intention to?’

‘God no’, she shivers. ‘Not with Palmer, not with Robert Downey Jr, not with anybody. Ever.’

Oliver blinks.

‘Well, maybe with Robert Downey Jr.’, she smirks, and Oliver can’t help it. He hugs her, laughing into her hair.

‘I love you’, he says, and feels her freeze. It’s the first time he said it, after Slade, and he feels stupid for not saying it before. ‘And we’re visiting your mother this weekend.’

Felicity shudders. ‘I would advise against it.’

‘No. We’re going.’

‘Okay’, she laughs, kissing him again.

⌂

Felicity’s mother is the meanest person he met, and that says something, considering who he deals with on a daily basis. She’s a bully, ruthless and rude, and Oliver takes a long moment to respect how Felicity stands up to her. She interrupts her mid-sentence, she glares, she proves her wrong in every way she can.

But her mother doesn’t ease up.

Until, at one point, when Felicity goes to the bathroom. When he’s left alone with her mother, Oliver casually asks her what she thinks would be the best way to propose to her daughter. She freezes, glass falling out of her hand. Oliver soldiers on, telling her that he knows it’s soon, but they’ve been running circles around each other for a long time, and he can’t bear the thought of not being with her, properly.

Her mother straightens up, raising a very judgmental eyebrow, and asks him why does he believe that Felicity would say yes.

Oliver laughs, and tells her that she saved him before, and that Felicity would never stop saving him.

Her mother loosens up after that, tells him a ridiculous scenario, a romantic proposal in a fancy restaurant, that is so not-Felicity, it makes him want to laugh.

When he does propose, it’s three months later, and they’re in the lair. It’s close to morning, Diggle’s son was born the day before, Roy is snoring in the background, Oliver is still dressed in the hood, dirty with blood and mud from a fight and Felicity is wearing pajama bottoms and one of his t-shirts.

Even though Oliver got QC back and his assets, the ring he picked isn’t overly expensive, and it’s not even close to conventional. It’s made out of white gold, with two small arrows engraved onto it. Felicity loves it and asks what’s the occasion.

‘It’s not my birthday.’, she frowns. ‘It’s not our anniversary, why did you get me a present?’

She’s holding her hand in front of her face, staring intently at the ring with a small smile on her face.

‘It’s not our anniversary’, Oliver agrees. ‘But next year, on this day, we’ll be celebrating the day I proposed.’

Felicity’s eyes snap to him.

‘And we’ll be celebrating the day you said yes’, he adds, cockily, raising an eyebrow, daring her to disagree.

Felicity screams, bringing her hand up to her mouth. She wakes Roy up, and he falls off the couch. Neither of them turn to look at him.

Felicity screams again, but it’s a wet sound, because she’s crying. Oliver can’t stop smiling. And he doesn’t, not even when Felicity jumps on him, wrapping her legs around his waist, kissing him like there’s no tomorrow.

‘Can you not?’, Roy moans. ‘What the hell is wrong with you people? I was sleeping.’

Oliver wants to answer, but Felicity doesn’t let him, still kissing him desperately. But he feels her sticking her hand out.

‘Isn’t there supposed to be a diamond on that ring?’, Roy asks, wearily, stepping closer.

Oliver stops kissing Felicity, just so he can glare at Roy, but Felicity’s got it covered, because she flips him off, with her ring hand, sticking her tongue out at him.

‘I owe Digg 50 bucks’, Roy sighs. ‘I was sure it was gonna take more than a year.’

Oliver and Felicity both glare. Roy grins.

‘Congratulations, lovebirds’, he starts moving towards the stairs. ‘Please don’t have sex on the mats, we all have to work here, you know.’

‘Go away, Roy!’, Felicity rolls her eyes. ‘We’re busy.’

She kisses Oliver again, and doesn’t stop for a long time.


	60. The week long drought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Tommy (he is alive in this because well I miss him) places a bet with Oliver that he can’t spend a whole week without sleeping with a woman. Tommy doesn't know that O an F are in a relationship and when Felicity finds out about the bet, she tries to tempt him and Tommy does the same by sending past hook-ups and hookers to his doorstep._
> 
> Well. This prompt was stolen from a one-shot written on fanfic.net. Read it here: [The Bet](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10285006/1/The-Bet-and-other-stories)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahahaahaha best prompt ever or best prompt ever?

When Tommy challenges him, Oliver’s first instinct is to accept. He thinks about it, thinks about Felicity, who sleeps in his bed for most nights, thinks about how he should really tell Tommy about them.

‘When you say sleep’, he finds himself asking, ‘you do mean sex.’

‘Obviously’, Tommy rolls his eyes.

‘But I can sleep with a woman in my bed. Just sleep.’

His best friend raises an eyebrow. ‘Like you could ever do that without having sex with her.’

And that, the confidence Tommy has, the way he’s teasing him, that’s what makes Oliver agree to it.

⃝

Felicity laughs for 10 minutes straight when he tells her. Then, she sobers up.

‘Why? I mean, I support you wholeheartedly, because I do think this is going to show Tommy just how much you changed, but why not tell him? About us?’

‘I will’, Oliver grins. ‘After I win this bet.’

‘So I guess I’m not sleeping over anymore’, Felicity pouts.

‘You can still sleep over.’, he shrugs. ‘But we won’t be having sex.’

‘I guess I could survive for a week.’, she sighs, but immediately starts laughing again.

⃝

Felicity is evil, Oliver decides. And so is Tommy.

It’s only been three days, and Oliver is very close to the edge.

His girlfriend is always wearing short skirts, but now they’re even shorter. And her cleavages are wider, her heels higher and when she sleeps next to him, she wears even less clothes than before.

It’s torture.

And she’s evil.

Felicity is being a tease. She’s dropping pens and bending down to get them. She’s bending down over the desk, displaying her cleavage in all its glory. She stopped getting her usual coffee, switching to a frappuccino, and the way she uses the straw is sinful. She sucks on it, puckering her lips and smirking, eyes not once leaving his.

Once, she ate a popsicle in the lair. Oliver tripped over nothing. Twice. Felicity just smirked and went back to licking avidly at her ice cream.

She touches him more than before. Drags her nails down his hand, bumping their shoulders together, putting her feet in his lap every chance she has. 

It’s day four of the bet, and Oliver is very frustrated.

Tommy isn’t helping, either. Every night, when Oliver makes his rounds around the club, Tommy keeps parading women in front of him. Women he slept with before, beautiful women whom he doesn’t know. They’re all gorgeous and their clothes aren’t covering much, and they’re all very willing.

And Oliver can’t think about anything else, other than Felicity’s long legs and her soft lips.

Oliver tries to get Tommy to stop. He just grins, ‘Did you really think I was gonna make this easy for you?’

Felicity is delighted by his torture. She sees the camera feed, sees all the women putting themselves on a plate for Oliver, and she laughs at him.

On the 5th night, a hooker shows up on the mansion steps, saying that Tommy paid for the night. Oliver just stares, in shock and dread.

Felicity comes downstairs wearing nothing but a pair of panties and one of his shirts.

‘I didn’t know this was gonna be a threesome’, the hooker says. ‘I get paid double for that.’

Felicity bursts out laughing, and she keeps laughing as she apologizes to the woman, making sure she got paid, explaining that it’s a prank.

‘How are you this calm?’, he asks her that night. ‘How do you trust me this much?’

‘I just do’, she shrugs. ‘What, are you telling me that you are thinking about cheating?’

‘No’, he doesn’t miss a beat in answering. ‘Never. But I have a record.’

Felicity absently waves a hand. ‘That’s before. This Oliver, Oliver 2.0 as I like to call him, he doesn’t do that anymore.’

‘Thank you’, he whispers, pressing a kiss to her collarbone.

She playfully shoves him away, giggling. ‘Don’t start something you aren’t going to finish, mister. Two more days.’

⃝

The bet ends at midnight, and on that 7th evening, Felicity surprises him by coming up at Verdant when he’s doing his rounds. It’s 11:30, and Oliver is counting the seconds.

She’s wearing a very short black dress, simple but clutching to her body beautifully. Her hair is down, curls bouncing as she moves, and her bright pink heels make Oliver’s stomach turn.

Felicity barely spares him a glance when she comes up to them.

Tommy whistles loudly, and Oliver has half of second in which he wants to strangle his best friends. But he ignores it, and tries to keep his face and his reactions as normal as possible.

‘No vigilante-ing tonight?’, Tommy asks Felicity. ‘You never come out of the lair.’

She grins. ‘We all need a night off every now and then, don’t we?’

‘Of course’, Tommy quickly agrees. ‘You look gorgeous, by the way. It’s a shame you don’t step out in the non-binary world more often.’

That makes Felicity laugh, and even Oliver smiles. But then, he freezes when he sees Felicity put a hand on Tommy’s elbow, smiling up at him and batting her eyelashes.

‘Take a lady to dance?’

‘Sure’, Tommy frowns, spearing a confused look at Oliver. But he lets Felicity drag him to the middle of the dancefloor.

They dance for half an hour. Oliver doesn’t take his eyes off them.

They’re dancing close, so very close, Tommy’s hands are on her waist, and hers are roaming on his back. Every now and then, Felicity would catch Oliver’s eye, and she’d wink. He trusts her, he knows he would never betray him like this, but it still makes his blood boil.

The week long drought didn’t help.

He sees Tommy loosing himself in the whirlwind that is Felicity. They’re talking, and laughing, in each other’s arms and ignoring everybody around them.

But when midnight comes, Oliver doesn’t stop himself from storming up to them.

They freeze, and Tommy looks at him with wide eyes, while Felicity grins.

‘He won the bet’, Felicity says.

Tommy blinks, and starts laughing. ‘Yeah he did’, he claps Oliver on the shoulder, proudly.

Felicity hums and removes the arm she still had over Tommy’s shoulders, stepping close to Oliver and putting a hand on the back of his neck, fingers scratching his scalpel.

He looks to Tommy, who’s staring at them with his jaw drop.

‘Would you mind if I take my boyfriend home now, and fuck him till tomorrow?’, she says in a sweet voice, innocently batting her eyelashes.

‘Jesus Christ’, Tommy wheezes out, eyes darting from Felicity’s eyes, to Oliver’s smirk, to her hand on his neck, to his hand on her hip.

‘You owe me for this week, Merlyn’, Felicity smirks, pressing herself against Oliver’s side. ‘There’s only so much a girl can take.’

‘I’m not surprised’, Tommy finally says. ‘I’m hurt that you didn’t tell me.’

‘That’s all his fault’, Felicity giggles, stepping up and placing a chaste kiss on Oliver’s jawline. ‘But you’ll have to deal with that tomorrow.’

With that, she drags Oliver away from Tommy, from the club, from the noise. They drive fast, and barely manage to get up the stairs of the mansion.

⃝

The sex that night is amazing. It’s intense, and desperate, and Felicity screams so loud, the windows seem to rattle. They both have rug burns in the morning, and several bruises on their bodies.

They’re both sore, but it’s good, it’s so good, they don’t stop smiling all day.

When Oliver puts on his hood that night, he winces when his muscles resist. Then, when Felicity is putting on his mask, she winces when she lifts her arms.

‘Oh my god’, Tommy wheezes out. Then, he starts laughing. He doesn’t stop, not even after Oliver left for his patrol, not even after Felicity punched him in the stomach.


	61. Hugs and Bruises INC.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Roy getting all "grrr" with Felicity unable to control his anger and her getting hurt in the process. She decides to keep it from Oliver as she knows Roy is sorry. Oliver finds out from seeing bruise/cut etc :)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rushed this a bit, cause I didn't really feel it. Sorry. [But I'll be poster another chapter later tonight, that one's fun!]

Even if Roy didn’t have the serum in his bloodstream anymore, it still left some residues. They all saw it, and they all had to learn to deal with it, to deal with him. He’d get angry, so angry, angrier with every second, he’d get a murderous look in his eyes and he’d forget who he was, where and why.

Usually, he’d snap out of it because of pain, so if Digg or Oliver would give him a bruise when he wasn’t being himself, Roy would be back in a matter of seconds, apologizing for his behavior.

It got worse after he saw the footage from right after he was injected, when he went on a rampage around the city. Roy injured a lot of people then, and he even took the life of a police man. They tried explaining to him, why they kept the secret, but Roy wouldn’t have it. That night, he yelled and screamed and kicked, he flipped over tables and broke everything he got his hands on, but he seemed to be all there.

At first, Oliver and Digg let Roy trash, let him take out his anger, but when Felicity saw John moving towards the tranquilizers, she snapped.

She yelled Roy’s name, and, surprisingly enough, it got his attention.

‘This was not your fault.’ Roy stopped moving, so Felicity started taking small steps towards him. ‘You were injected with a drug that clouded your mind, nothing you did was your fault.’

He looked at her, right into her eyes, lost and desperate, and it broke Felicity’s heart. So she took a few final steps, until she was in front of Roy, and tried her best to smile at him.

‘And yes, you are the one who has to deal with the consequences, but it was. not. your. fault.’

Roy nods, finally, and Felicity hears Oliver and Digg breathe a sigh of relief, but she also sees that Roy has tears in his eyes and it surprises her, how much she cannot stand it.

So Felicity takes the final step, quickly wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Roy instantly sunk, letting his weight fall on Felicity, his head on her shoulder. He brought his hands up and wrapped them around her waist and started crying.

Felicity doesn’t know how long they stood like that. Roy cried and cried, and she held on to him, holding at tight as she could, shushing him and drawing shapes in his hair.

She didn’t notice the bruises until the morning. On her waist, there were a couple of bruises in the shape of Roy's palms. Felicity shuddered, but not in pain or disgust. She shuddered because of how desperate Roy must have been, to cling to her so badly, that it bruised her skin.

Of course, Felicity didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to make him feel more guilt, he really didn’t need that anymore. And she knew that if she said anything, Oliver would have gone insane and would have probably done something impulsive, like decide she was never to be alone with Roy again.

So she kept her mouth shut.

But a couple of days later, she was in the lair with Oliver. Just the two of them, late at night, he was working on his arrows and Felicity was bugging him. One moment, it was all playfulness and harmless flirting, and the next second, Oliver was trying to tickle her.

And Felicity hissed when his fingers brushed over the bruises. She froze, and so did he, staring at her with wide eyes. She took a couple of steps back, brain working overdrive to come up with a decent excuse, but he wasn’t having it.

Oliver rushed to her side, and immediately went to lift off her shirt. She tried to bat his hands away, but he didn’t budge.

Felicity yelled his name, as strongly as she could, and that was what made him stop, but he already succeeded in lifting her shirt.

She swallowed, looking into his eyes, and he immediately looked down. Oliver just stared at the bruises for a few seconds, fingers ghosting over them, making goosebumps appear on her skin, but he didn’t say anything.

After a few moment, Felicity struggled to let her shirt back down, and he let him.

‘He did that?’, Oliver whispered, finally looking away from her waist.

She nodded, biting her lip. ‘Don’t tell him. He didn’t mean to, you know he didn’t, you were there. Don’t tell him, god knows he doesn’t need more guilt.’

‘He needs to know he hurt you.’

‘No’, Felicity replied forcefully.

‘Yes!’, Oliver argued, ‘so that he doesn’t do it again.’

‘Oliver’, she tried more softly, ‘he literally hugged me till I bruised. Think about how desperate he must have been to do that.'

‘I know’, he sighed, guilt passing over his features. ‘I don’t know how to help him.’

‘We’ll figure it out’, Felicity smiled, grabbing a hold of his hand and squeezing it gently.

Oliver doesn’t exactly smile back, but there is a twitch in his lips and a bit of a spark in his eyes. Felicity takes what she can.

‘And if not, we’ll just smother him with hugs. We can make a schedule. You’ll take the night shift, I’ll take the mornings and Digg the afternoons.’

Oliver barks out a laugh and goes back to working on his arrows.

The next night, though, he comes to the lair with takeout bags of Roy’s favorite Chinese place, two six packs of beer and with a copy of Grand Theft Auto.


	62. Felicity vs. blindness (and Oliver's kindness)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _When a mission goes south Felicity ends up blind, leaving Oliver to be her light in the darkness._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you expect this to be sad and angst-y. No. Nope. That's not what happened here. _sorry?_

The doctors say she’s lucky. That considering a bomb exploded in her face, just a glass wall separating them, she’s lucky. Granted, the wall was bulletproof, so she doesn’t have any burns or cuts on her body. She’s only blind.

Temporarily blind, for a week, tops. She has to keep her eyes bandaged 23 hours a day, someone has to put eye drops in every 8 hours and her sight will be back to normal.

Felicity’s pissed off, more than anything. It’s terrifying, not being able to see a thing, but Oliver is a constant pressure by her side, from the moment he found her, till they released her from the hospital. The doctor’s reassurance calmed her down, but she feels helpless.

She can’t walk, she can’t cook, she can’t watch tv, she can’t read, she can’t do anything. She can’t go to work, she can’t help in the lair.

Useless.

And angry.

But Oliver’s there. He takes her home, he helps her up the stairs, he hovers while she looks for clothes in her drawers and he draws her a bath.

By the time she comes out of the bathroom, Oliver tells her that he’s moving in with her for the week and that he already grabbed a bag from his apartment and went grocery shopping.

Felicity doesn’t have it in her to argue. She just thanks him a million times and tells him where to find sheets for the bed in the guestroom.

When they settle on the couch, because they’re both too hyped up to sleep, even if it’s closer to morning than midnight, Oliver randomly starts laughing.

Felicity can tell he’s trying to hold it back, unsuccessfully.

‘What?’, she finally snaps.

‘I’m sorry’, he breathes out through giggles. ‘But if you’d see yourself, you wouldn’t leave the house for three days.’

‘Why?’, she asks weary, bringing her knees up to her chest.

‘You’re wearing checkered bottoms and a striped shirt.’

Felicity cocks her head to the side. Then, she sighs. ‘With my luck, I’m probably wearing polka dots underwear too.’

Oliver falls silent next to her, and Felicity really hates that she can’t see his expression.

‘That’s doesn’t mean you have to check!’, she screeches out, covering her face with her hands. But it makes Oliver laugh, so it’s okay.

→•

When she wakes up in the morning, it’s to the sound of Oliver doing pushups in his room. It’s across the hall from hers, so she figures both of their doors are open.

Felicity makes her way to the bathroom by herself, she even manages to brush her teeth and comb her hair. On her way to the kitchen, she keeps a hand on the wall, just to be safe, remembering to bypass the small vanity she keeps there. Oliver doesn’t stop doing his pushups.

She manages to put a pill in her coffee maker, grab a mug and start it up, but she fails at grabbing breakfast, because she can’t find anything in her fridge.

‘Do you want to struggle with that some more, or will you let me cook you breakfast?’, Oliver’s amused voice comes through, accompanied by his hand on her shoulder.

Felicity whines, and forgets all the ways she made herself act around Oliver in the past months, so she closes the fridge door and all but collapses into his arms, her head fitting in the crook of his neck. Oliver freezes, for a second, but then his arms came up and he held her tightly.

‘I hate being useless.’

Oliver puffed and ran a comforting hand down her back.

‘You’re not useless’, he said softly. ‘For one, you’re still pretty.’

Felicity tried pulling away and started kicking as his chest, while Oliver laughed and grabbed a hold of her wrists.

‘I’m kidding, Felicity.’

She puffed, still trying to get away.

‘Well, no, I’m not, you are still pretty’, he continued. ‘But you’re not useless. You’ll never be useless. So you can’t type for a week. It’s fine, Roy and I will manage a week without you.’

Felicity opened her mouth, but he didn’t let her speak.

‘We won’t be taking on any big missions, like I promised last night, we’ll just be patrolling.’

‘You’re enjoying this far too much’, Felicity grumbled.

He let her go then, gently guiding her towards a chair.

‘Actually being able to help _you_ , for once?’, Oliver said, and she could her the amusement in it. ‘Sure.’

‘You shouldn’t have to’, she argued.

‘Yes I should. You’ve been helping me for years, and I never gave you anything back in return.’

Felicity glared in the general direction of his voice. ‘You know that’s not true.’

‘Still, stop growling and let me help you. It’s the least I can do.’

Felicity sighed, resting her head on the table. ‘I want waffles.’

→•

It was ridiculous, Felicity thought. Oliver was like a goddamn puppy, running around after her.

He did absolutely everything for her, he didn’t let her do anything. He was by her side more often than not, and when he went off to patrol with Roy, he called her every half hour.

He made her food, cleaned her house, and brought her drinks. He draw her baths every day, he put drops in her eyes every 8 hours, he watched tv on mute while she listened to audio books (it was the only vaguely entertaining thing she could do). One excruciating time, he even did the laundry for her, laughing at her embarrassment but still giving a running commentary while folding her underwear.

It was ridiculous.

Felicity was starting to wonder how far he would go.

It was evil of her, she realized that, but she had to know. So she started asking for more things, the more preposterous, the better.

And Oliver did them. All of them.

He read her the news out loud, he read her email and wrote down her answers for some of them. He went to the bank and to the post office for her. He changed her sheets and arranged her clothes so she could dress properly. He filed her nails ones, even if she was perfectly capable of doing that and even if she didn’t ask for his help, and more often than not, he’d comb her hair, again, even if she didn’t ask.

In the evening before she has to go to the doctor for the final checkup, Oliver makes them spaghetti and they drink red wine alongside it. When he agrees to give her a massage before bed, Felicity spends 20 minutes in pure bliss.

They were on her bed, she was sprawled out on her belly and Oliver was sitting next to her. He was so good at what he was doing, his hands hot against her back, even through the t-shirt she was wearing. Felicity couldn’t contain the small noises of pleasure she let out every now and then.

But Oliver chuckled each time, and his hands pressed on tighter for a few seconds.

When he was done, Felicity rolled onto her back, a satisfied grin on her face.

‘Good?’, he asks, one of his hands settling on her upper arm.

‘So good’, she breathes out, fumbling with her hands until she finds his shoulders, putting all of her strength in bringing him forward.

Oliver crashes on her chest, letting out a surprised yelp. He freezes, his ragged breaths tickling Felicity’s neck.

‘What are you doing?’, he asks, and it sounds a bit strangled. 

‘Hugging you’, Felicity answers, scooting more into the middle of the bed. Oliver gets on with the program, properly lying down next to her, her arms still tightly wrapped around him, his head resting on her shoulder.

She starts gently running her nails through his hair, and he hums, the last traces of weariness bleeding out of his body.

‘You’re ridiculous, you know that?’, she says softly after a few minutes, and he makes an affronted sound, but doesn’t say anything.

‘You’ve been doing my bidding this past week, no matter how ridiculous the task. I’m pretty sure that if I asked you to shave my legs, you would have.’

There’s a pause. ‘Do you want me to shave your legs?’

Felicity smacks the back of his head.

He buries his face further into her neck and brings a hand around her waist. ‘I just wanted to help.’

‘No, you were spoiling me. What you did was basically the equivalent of a parent giving candy to his child before dinner.’

There’s a pause, again. Then, Oliver groans. ‘You did not just compare us to that.’

She giggled. ‘Sorry?’                                                             

‘I just’, he sighed. ‘You hate being helpless and I hate seeing you sad, so yes, I did everything you asked.’

‘Just promise me you’ll go back to normal tomorrow. That you’ll stop treating me like I’m made of glass.’

‘I move back home tomorrow.’

‘That’s wasn’t an answer.’, Felicity pouts.

Oliver sighs. ‘I promise I’ll go back to normal tomorrow.’

‘Good.’, Felicity sighs, happily. ‘Sleep now.’

They’re silent for a few minutes, but Oliver doesn’t move from his place, half sprawled over her.

‘Are you drunk?’, he asks, digging his fingers into her hip.

‘A bit. You?’, she grins.

‘I was drinking vodka while you were drinking wine.’

That makes Felicity giggle and kiss his forehead. She’s not completely successful, she thinks she kisses his eye or something, and that makes him laugh. Oliver kisses her cheek, settles more comfortably around her and bids her goodnight.

→•

After the doctor gives her a complete bill of health, the first thing Felicity does while back in the car with Oliver is put on makeup.

He’s looking at her, every now and then, still paying attention to the road, but to her too.

‘You don’t need all of that.’, he says after she’s done.

Felicity grins. ‘I know. But you’ve missed the pink, don’t lie.’

He chuckles, but doesn’t disagree.

Everything goes back to normal after that.

→•

Except it doesn’t, not really. It’s Digg who points it out, two month later, that Oliver still hasn’t moved out of Felicity’s guest bedroom.

They both freeze, and when their eyes meet, Felicity blushes and Oliver swallows.

‘You should cancel your lease’, Felicity says. ‘And move everything.’

‘You sure?’, Oliver frowns.

‘Yeah. I can’t live without your massages anymore, anyway. You might as well.’

Oliver narrows his eyes. ‘You just want me for my hands.’

Felicity nods.

‘You’re lucky you’re pretty’, Oliver says, but he’s struggling not to smile, as is she.

‘And I can make pizza, from scratch.’, Felicity grins.

Oliver just shakes his head and heads towards the stairs. ‘I’ll go grab the rest of my things. I’ll be home in an hour or two. I’ll grab the wine, you make the pizza.’

‘Don’t order me around, asshole’, Felicity sticks out her tongue.

‘I will if you keep yelling for me to kill spiders for you.’                                

‘You saw how big that thing was Oliver, shut up. Go away.’

Oliver grins. ‘Pizza’, is all he says before he’s gone.

Felicity shakes her head, smiling fondly, and when she turns around, Digg is staring at her.

‘What just happened?’


	63. Grindr for Nerds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Hi! I was wondering if. You could do a prompt based off the whole clichéd but totally hot: enemies who become lovers. I think it'd be interesting to see a enemy oliver and felicity dynamic cause I think the UST would be ridiculous. If you could make them high schoolers too that'd be cool but if not that's cool too. Thank you!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy. this was fun. it got away from me.

When Felicity got to the principal's office and saw that Oliver Queen was already there, her blood boiled.

It usually did, in his presence. For multiple reasons.

For one, they’ve been fighting for valedictorian since they knew what a valedictorian was. They were now seniors and it was virtually a tie, as it has been in the past years.

Secondly, they didn’t get along. At all. They tried, once, in freshman year when they figured out they were the smartest in school. It didn’t work. They fought every 5 minutes, and neither of them backed down. Since then, they had no relationship. They only talked in class, when it was necessary and they ignored each other the rest of the time.

Thirdly and lastly, even though she would never admit it out loud, good god was Oliver Queen hot! He’s always been good looking, but over the past year, he grew up, a lot, in all the right places. Felicity hated that she was attracted to him, but she couldn’t really help it.

Her blood boiled again when the principal started talking. A project, he said. A contest, he said. In San Francisco, he said. Best of the best. Possibility to win scholarships. Work together. Design an app. Deadline in 4 months. They’ll fly you out to San Francisco near the end, he said. You’ve got this, he said.

Felicity turned to Oliver, shocked and weary. He seemed to be feeling the same.

‘I don’t need the scholarship.’, he said, making Felicity roll his eyes.

‘I know, you’re rich. I’m not.’

‘I want to win, though.’, he tilted his head.

‘Why?’

‘Because my father is under the impression that I will prove I’m not as smart as I think I am when I get to college.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow.

Oliver’s eye twitched, and his neck turned red, but he soldiered on.

‘He doesn’t think I get my grades on merit.’

Felicity scoffed.

They just looked at each other for a few seconds.

‘Do you really want to do this?’, she asked.

Oliver nodded enthusiastically. ‘We can kick their asses.’

‘Language’, the principal said, making them both flinch.

‘Sorry’, Oliver apologized, but quickly turned back to Felicity. ‘Please?’

She sighed. ‘We might kill each other.’

He scoffed. ‘We won’t.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow.

‘We won’t if we both want this badly enough.’, he amended.

‘Okay’, she agreed, making Oliver smile at her.

Oh god. Her knees went weak when he smiled. These were going to be four long months.

Ѵ

And they were.

It all started off with a cup of coffee, at Starbucks after school that day. They spent hours talking about what they could do. They literally did not realize how much time had passed, until they were faced with Oliver’s driver disapproving glare, telling them it’s almost 10 pm and that his mother was worried. That should have been Felicity’s first clue.

They were supposed to make an app, she would work at most of the code, because she was best at it, and he would work mainly at the algorithm, logistics. They’d both work on the design and at whatever else might come up.

It took a long while to decide on what type of app they’d make, because all the ideas they had didn’t seem right, they always felt like they could do better.

‘We’re good at brainstorming together’, Oliver said when there was a lull in conversation. He didn’t look at her, though.

Still, it sparked an idea for Felicity. She slapped the table from excitement and grinned, startling him.

‘Do you know Grindr?’

He scrunched up his nose. ‘The app that tells you when gay people are around.’

‘Right!’, she bounced excitedly in her chair. ‘So what if we do that, but for smart people?’

Oliver frowned, tilting his head.

‘You make a profile, say what you’re good at. Biology, history, English, whatever. And then when you need help, you check the people around you, see what they’re good at.’

‘It’s still social media’, Oliver nodded.

‘But for nerds!’

‘I resent that term.’

Felicity scoffed. ‘You’re a nerd. You also happen to be the most popular guy in school, but that’s another story.’

‘I am not-‘, he tried, but Felicity raised a judgmental eyebrow. He stopped, took a deep breath, ordered another round of coffee and started talking about the app.

It went on from there. At first, they’d meet each day after school, usually at Starbucks. They’d work for a couple of hours, then they’d go home and do their homework. Oliver probably hung out with his group of popular friends, while Felicity watched tv.

After two weeks, he started texting her. Felicity didn’t even know where he got her number. Throughout the day, she’d get text about ideas he had for the app, and they’d discuss them when they’d meet.

The status quo changed two weeks into their work.

Felicity’s mother was always working, so she was never home. And Felicity ordered some clothes online, like she always did with the money she got from writing essays for college students, so she had to go home right after school.

She texted Oliver this, and his response shocked her.

_‘That’s great! These daily Starbucks treats are digging a hole in my allowance. So can I invite myself over?’_

She reluctantly agreed. He drove them to her place after school, and she babbled all the way there, trying to fill the silence. She talked about his mother, a bit, telling him that she’s never home and on the odd moment she is, she doesn’t really bother Felicity.

Oliver didn’t say anything, but he seemed to be paying attention.

When they got to the door and Felicity started apologizing for the state of her house, about how it must be pretty shitty in comparison to his mansion, Oliver rolled his eyes.

‘You know I don’t care about that, right?’

Felicity paused.

‘I don’t care about money. I’d much rather make my own living than have dad pile money in my account.’

‘That… doesn’t sound like something you would say.’, Felicity narrowed her eyes.

‘You don’t know me very well.’, Oliver raised an eyebrow and, well, Felicity really couldn’t argue with that.

Ѵ

After that day, they always went to her house, or to his. But they both preferred Felicity’s, because it was empty and quiet, while the Queen family and staff always seemed very interested in the ‘smart girl Oliver brought home’. It made them both very uncomfortable.

One month in, they started doing their homework together, before they’d start working on the app. Oliver had a favorite mug he always used when he came over, and he had his spot on the bed, and his chair at the table and Felicity was very confused by how easily she accepted this.

Two months in, they had more than half of the work done.

But it wasn’t easy. While they both worked hard and well on the job, they’d fight. A lot. They’d yell at each other, call each other names. More than once, Felicity had the sudden urge to bash Oliver’s head into the wall, and she knew he felt the same.

‘That’s not how you do it, Felicity!’ / ‘Shut up, asshole, this is how I’m doing it.’

‘Oliver, that’s just stupid.’ / ‘You’re stupid, this is genius.’

‘What do you mean you forgot to do it?’ / ‘I mean, Felicity, that it slipped my mind. Stop yelling, I’ll do it now!’

‘Felicity! That’s the wrong function!’ / ‘It is not the wrong function, it’s the good function, it’s gonna work!’

'I can't see the monitor.' / 'Gee, Oliver, do you think it's because you're too lazy to move your ass over here?'

'Felicity, are you trying to make me kill you?' / 'No, I'm gonna kill you first.'

‘You’re an asshole!’ / ‘Yes, Felicity, thank you for your input, but we’ve got work to do.’

‘You’re insufferable!’ / ‘Yes, Oliver, thank you for your input, but we’ve got work to do.’

It was horrible. Felicity was struggling, because on one hand she wanted her hands all over Oliver’s body and she wanted to always work with him, because he was smart. But on the other hand, he pissed her off daily.

Ѵ

Two months and one week into their project, Oliver sat down with her for lunch. He started talking about the app the next second, completely ignoring her shocked look.

‘Oliver, we’re at school.’, she hissed when there was a pause in his speech.

‘So?’

‘We don’t talk at school’, Felicity screeched in a loud whisper. ‘At school, you’re the almighty Oliver Queen, and I’m the nerd who eats lunch by herself.’

A look of disgust crossed his features. ‘What the hell does that mean? Almighty?’

‘Yes, Oliver, almighty! You’re popular, the most popular guy in school alongside Tommy, every girl wants in your bed and every guy wants to be your best friend. Whereas me, I don’t have any friends because everybody thinks I’ll stab them in the back for a grade and because nobody can wrap their heads around the fact that I actually have a personality.’

‘Well that sounds rough’, Tommy’s voice startled her, as he sat down on the other side of the table, next to Oliver.

Felicity stared at Tommy. Oliver stared at Felicity.

‘Hi.’, he grinned, easily. ‘I’m Tommy, as you already know. You must be the Felicity I’ve kept hearing about.’

Her jaw dropped and she turned towards Oliver, who was still staring at her.

‘You talk about me?’

Oliver blinked. ‘I spend more time with you than I spend home and I needed to upgrade my texting plan. Of course I talk about you.’

Her face must be doing something hilarious, because Tommy snorted. ‘Am I interrupting something? I thought you two weren’t dating.’

‘Shut up!’, Oliver and Felicity yelled at the same time, making Tommy snort again.

‘Do you honestly think that low of me?’, Oliver turned back to Felicity.

She shrugged. ‘You’re smart, a lot smarter than everybody gives you credit for. But you’re still used to…’ she waved her hands around. ‘Being a celebrity.’

‘You really think that low of me.’, he breathed out, and Felicity was surprised by how affected he seemed.

‘Can you blame me, though?’, Felicity asked, a lot more softly that she intended. ‘I still remember you bullying me in 5th grade for my pony tails.’

‘That was 7 years ago!’

‘And did you ever give me a chance to change my opinion?’

‘No’, Oliver sighed after a beat.

‘No, you didn’t. And that’s okay’, Felicity smiled. ‘We’re not friends, and I don’t really need us to be. I just need to finish this thing, get my scholarship, and get out of here.’

Tommy was watching the whole thing with his head resting on his palm. Felicity ignored him, she ignored Oliver too, and went back to eating her lunch and reading her book.

‘I’ll prove you wrong.’, Oliver said a couple of minutes later.

‘You don’t need to do that.’, Felicity rolled her eyes.

‘What if I want to?’, he raised his eyebrows. At her shocked expression, he leveled her with a glare. ‘Really now, our brains work perfectly together and we both want to go to MIT. Wouldn’t you rather actually know somebody before you get there?’

‘Good god, you’re serious.’, Felicity breathed out.

‘He’s always serious when the eyebrows come to play’, Tommy fake whispered to her.

‘This cannot be happening.’, Felicity insisted.

‘Oh, it’s happening.’, Tommy grinned at her.

Oliver pointed a finger at her face. ‘You’re coming to dinner.’

Felicity yelped. Out loud. Tommy snorted.

Oliver smirked. ‘That wasn’t a no.’

‘I hate you’, Felicity deadpanned.

Oliver hummed. ‘Shut up and eat your fries.’

Ѵ

Felicity was a ball of nerves all day. It was understandable, considering the Queens were one of the richest families in the whole country, and she was just the daughter of a cocktail waitress.

But that didn’t stop her. She put on her best dress, tight over her body but with a loose long skirt, white with big red flowers, put on a bit of makeup and drove herself to the Queen mansion.

She was expecting Oliver to open the door, or one of their staff. But she was face to face with a girl, a couple of years longer than her, with big brown eyes and messy, curly hair. She was adorable.

‘Who are you?’, the little girl asked, confidently.

‘I’m Felicity, who are you?’

‘Thea.’

‘Oh. You’re Oliver’s sister. Hi’, Felicity smiled. ‘I’m his… colleague.’

Thea narrowed her eyes at her hesitance.

‘Are you Ollie’s girlfriend?’

Felicity giggled at the nickname, but she recovered soon enough. ‘No, I’m not. I’m his friend, we’re working on some homework together.’

The child hesitated, for a few seconds, but in the end she nodded and whispered a barely heard ‘Okay.’

‘Glad you approve, Thea’, Oliver’s amused voice came through, just as he was coming into the foyer from one of the adjacent rooms. He froze when he saw Felicity, frowning.

‘You look great.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘Thank you for your enthusiasm.’, she deadpanned, voice heavy with sarcasm.

That seemed to get Oliver out of whatever funk he was in. ‘Are you trying to impress me?’, he smiled, radiating confidence and cockiness.

‘I don’t need to impress you, we both know I’m better than you.’

A snort came from Felicity’s right, and when she turned, she was met with a very amused Robert Queen. She blushed, instantly, and took a step backwards.

‘You must be Felicity.’, the man smiled, offering his hand. Felicity took it quickly. ‘I heard a lot about you.’

‘I’m sure none of it is true.’, she smiled, throwing Oliver a pointed look.

That made him pout, and his father laughed. ‘Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes. Why don’t you two go to the living room in the meantime. Oliver, get your girl something to drink.’

‘I am not his girl.’

‘She is not my girl.’

That only made Mr. Queen laugh some more, as he headed up the stairs. Thea followed him, bouncing all the way.

Neither of them got a chance to say anything else, because Tommy came in. Through the front door, not even bothering to ring the doorbell.

He, too, froze at the sight of Felicity.

‘Jesus Christ, you’re hot.’

Oliver slapped him on the back of his head. Felicity just rolled her eyes.

‘Yes, yes, thank you. It’s nice to know a pair of teenage boys appreciate my fairly average boobs. Now, who do I have to kill to get a soda?’

Oliver snapped out of it first, even if his cheeks were red. ‘Follow me.’

Ѵ

Felicity was in awe of the mansion, but she tried her best not to show it. In respect for Oliver, and for how he did not comment on a thing when he came into her house. The only thing he said was that the pink walls of her room didn’t really work with all the Metallica posters.

So she kept her mouth shut.

When dinner was ready, she was seated on one side of the table, between Oliver and Tommy. Thea was across the table right in front of her, with Moira Queen sitting next to her, in front of Oliver. Mr. Queen was sitting at the head of the table.

Tommy talked, a lot. Felicity never really spent any time with him before today, and she never cared enough to pay attention. But he did not stop talking. It seemed like the Queens were used to it, and Thea was eating up his every word. It was oddly endearing.

When he finally stopped talking, Moria diverted everybody’s attention to Felicity.

‘So you go to school with the boys?’, she smiled.

Felicity nodded, swallowing the food she had in her mouth. It was absolutely delicious.

‘Are your parents on the committee?’

She flinched, but tried her best to control it. ‘No, m’am, they’re not.’

Moira frowned. ‘Do I know them?’

Felicity laughed, a little self deprecating, spearing a look at Oliver, who was glaring daggers at his mother.

‘I don’t think you do’, Felicity smiled. ‘My mother’s a cocktail waitress.’, she said in the straightest tone she could manage. ‘I’m on a scholarship at the school.’

Moira looked apologetic, and she wanted to say something, but her husband cut her off.

‘So you’re smart.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘At least according to educational standards.’

He leaned forward in his heat. ‘How smart?’

Felicity giggled. ‘Just a bit smarter than Oliver.’

‘You are not.’, he puffed.

‘You can’t prove that’, she grinned.

‘Well you can’t prove you’re smarter than me either.’

Tommy sighed, dramatically, startling everyone. ‘It’s been like this for years. It’s very distracting.’

‘What?’, Mr. Queen asked, when it was clear that nobody was going to say anything.

‘They’d been fighting for valedictorian since they were 12.’

‘Who’s winning?’, Moria asked, weary.

Oliver and Felicity both puffed and crossed their arms over their chests.

‘Nobody’, Tommy grinned. ‘It’s a tie.’

‘How is that possible?’, Oliver’s mother insisted.

Tommy laughed. ‘No idea. But I really think the principal’s going to make them both do the valedictorian speech.’

‘That’s impressive’,  Mr. Queen smiled.

‘Thank you’, Oliver and Felicity said, once again, in complete sync, making Tommy snort.

Ѵ

Dinner went on without a hitch after that. When it was done, Oliver told his parents that he was taking his friends up to his room.

‘Leave the door open’, Moria smiled.

Oliver narrowed his eyes. ‘Why?’

Felicity elbowed him in the stomach. ‘So she can hear you scream when I try to kill you. It’s fine. Thank you for dinner, Ms. Queen. It was very nice meeting you.’

‘Likewise, my dear.’, she said, fighting back a laugh. Felicity considered it a win.

Oliver’s room was as big as her house. It was disconcerting, but once again, she tried not to let it show. Instead, she went straight for his bookcase and started snooping around.

Someone from the staff came knocking, asking them if they want anything to drink. The boys both wanted soda, but Felicity asked for a black coffee, ignoring the weird looks everybody was throwing her.

Tommy was sprawled on the couch, already starting up Oliver’s TV and game console, but Oliver stirred Felicity towards his bed, where his laptop was open. They spent the next hours sitting shoulder to shoulder, talking animatedly about their app and planning what they were supposed to do next.

Felicity honestly didn’t realize when time passed when they worked. It always happened, they’d get into it, they’d fight, they’d fix problems, they’d fight, they’d brainstorm, they’d fight, they’d get ideas. It was a routine, by now.

So they were both startled when Tommy cleared his throat, hovering over them.

‘I’m not kicking you out’, he told Felicity, ‘but it’s 11pm on a school night and Moira peeked in twice already.’

Felicity groaned, sharing a look with Oliver. ‘Again.’

‘Yeah’, he agreed. ‘Let me drive you home.’

‘It’s fine’, she shrugged. ‘I drove myself. No problem.’

Oliver and Tommy walked her to her car, and they started laughing when they saw her bright red mini. She was used to it, so she didn’t even bat an eye.

She did stare, though, when Oliver held the car door open for her and told her to text him when she got home.

It was a weird ending to a weird evening. Felicity tried not to think about it as she fell asleep.

Ѵ

Felicity didn’t have any friends. It was okay with her, she got used to it. People always thought she was an outsider, because a girl with a love for code and computers was still weird to them. They stood away from her, and it was fine by her, because it felt like she had less responsibilities.

She looked around, at all the high school drama, the breakups, the fights, everything, and she was very okay with not having to deal with that.

She had boyfriends, though. A guy she met at a hacking seminar and a guy she met at a coffee shop last summer. Both of the relationships were short and fun, but, once again, Felicity was okay with that. She wasn’t a people person. She understood code better than she understood people.

So on the morning of her birthday, Felicity didn’t expect anything from the day. She had breakfast with her mother, like she did every year, and went on with her day.

She went to school, she ate lunch with Oliver and Tommy, spending half the time talking with Oliver about the app and half the time talking with Tommy about Game of Thrones, spending all of the time ignoring how all the people in the cafeteria were staring at them.

After school, Oliver drove them to her house. She made grilled cheese sandwiches as he sliced some carrots and tomatoes. She made coffee as he washed the dishes. Then, when they went up to her room, he sat on the bed while she sat at her desk, doing their homework in silence, with the radio playing softly in the background.

After two hours, Felicity moved next to Oliver on the bed and they started working on the app.

It was routine by now, and she tried not to ever think about it, because it would probably break her brain.

So they worked, hard. They fought, they fixed some issues, they brainstormed, they fought some more.

But today, something was off with Oliver. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but he was distracted. More than once, Felicity had to snap her fingers in his face to get his attention, and he seemed to have been reduced to monosyllabic answers.

‘Okay, what is up with you?’, she snapped after a while, violently shutting the laptop in his face.

‘Nothing’, he breathed out, a frown appearing between his eyebrows.

Felicity puffed. ‘You’re somewhere else. Look, it’s okay if you want a day off, a week off. We’re ahead of schedule, just say the word and-‘

‘No’, he shook his head. ‘It’s fine, I’m fine.’

They glared at each other for a few seconds. Felicity took a deep breath and tried to change her expression into something more soothing.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’

He blinked.

‘I can keep a secret and I’m a very good listener.’

‘Thank you’, Oliver whispered after a beat. ‘It’s really nothing, I just… I had a fight with Tommy, after lunch.’

‘What about?’, Felicity frowned because she has never seen or even heard of the two of them ever fighting.

‘It doesn’t matter.’, he shook his head. ‘It was just an argument, we’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m sorry.’

Felicity tilted her head. ‘We should take a break. Your head’s not in it right now and mine’s kinda tired.’, she grinned.

‘Okay’, Oliver smiled. ‘I’ll go home then.’

Felicity hesitated, because he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulder. And it just… wasn’t right. Oliver has always been carefree and light, but now he looked defeated, shoulders slump and head hanging low.

‘Do you wanna watch a movie?’ Felicity blurted out, before she could second guess it.

Oliver’s eyebrows rose up. ‘Are you asking me out on a date?’

Her cheeks were on fire, but she held her ground.

‘No, you’re right, that’s too date-like.’, Felicity scrunched up her nose. ‘You’re gonna help me cake cupcakes.’

There was a pause. ‘Chocolate-chip?’, Oliver asked, somewhat weary.

‘No peanuts, though. I’m allergic.’, Felicity grinned, bouncing off the bed and rushing to the kitchen.

Ѵ

So they spent the next hour in the kitchen, baking cupcakes. Well, Felicity did all the baking, because Oliver was absolutely clueless.

They talked a lot in that hour, about random things. Oliver told her a lot of stories about the crazy things Tommy made him do, about the amount of girly things he had to do with Thea, about how he was afraid of disappointing his father. In return, Felicity told her fair share of crazy summer stories, and she even told him about how his father left when she was 10 and about how her mother works a lot, but along the way, she forgets Felicity exists for days on end.

By the time the timer went off on the cupcakes, they were both in shock. Because they shared such personal things with each other, because Felicity had a life, a fun life outside of school, because as cocky as Oliver was in school, as soft and caring he was with Thea. And because it felt nice, to talk to each other like that.

Oliver insisted he’d frost the cupcakes. So Felicity left him, taking a seat and watching him do it.

‘Are we friends now?’, he asked, randomly, interrupting her mid-rant about their English teacher.

Felicity froze. She didn’t manage to lift her eyes to meet his, so she looked at his hands, where he was making quick work of spreading chocolate cream on top of the cupcakes.

‘I never really had friends’, is what she settled on saying. ‘Especially not someone like you.’

Oliver very slowly put the cupcake down and she heard him take a deep breath.

‘Look at me’, he said in a low voice that sent a shiver down her spine.

When she looked up, she stopped breathing because of the look in his eyes. He was angry, so angry, but he never once took his eyes off her.

‘You put me on this pedestal, up high in the air and you think I never come down from it. And you’re wrong. You’re very wrong. Because if I am, standing that high, then you’re right beside me.’

Felicity gasped, but he went on.

‘It really annoys me. Not that you think that of me. It hurts, but what really annoys me is that you think so low of yourself.’

‘You don’t know me’, Felicity whispered.

Olive laughed, but it was an angry sound. ‘I do, though. Just because you think you’re invisible, that doesn’t mean that nobody sees you.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Oliver sighed, willing himself to calm down. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a braided bracelet, bright and colorful, with a string of 1s and 0s on it. He pushed it on the table until it touched Felicity’s hands, not once looking away from her.

Then, he smiled. ‘Happy birthday.’

Felicity just looked at it for a couple of seconds.

‘What does it mean?’

Oliver smirked. ‘Idiot.’

Her eyes snapped to his instantly.

‘You asshole.’

He smiled.

‘Jerk.’

He grinned.

‘Stupid idiot.’

He didn’t stop grinning.

That’s how Felicity’s mother found them. She just sighed, grabbed a cupcake and patted Oliver on the back before going to bed.

Ѵ

It didn’t change a lot, after that, not from someone watching from the outside.

But for Felicity, she knew that no matter how much she fought Oliver, no matter how much she yelled at him and insulted him, he’d still be there. She knew he felt the same.

All of a sudden, going to MIT with Oliver didn’t sound like a bad plan.

But it was dangerous.

Because Felicity still wanted her hands all over him. And he still infuriated her to Hell and back.

Ѵ

A week before they’d have to present their app, they were flown to San Francisco.

Oliver’s mother was the one who drove them, and Tommy was there too.

Where she was worried and fussing over his son being away for a week, Tommy was oozing excitement. Moira told Felicity to remind Oliver to call daily. Tommy told Felicity to not do anything he wouldn’t do.

Felicity felt relieved when they were boarding the plane. Oliver agreed with her.

Ѵ

They were accommodated in a 4 star hotel, and Felicity didn’t really want to know if it was Moira’s doing or not. She was just settled on enjoying it.

They shared a room, a huge room, with two king sized beds and a couch, that was decorated with warm colors and dark wood. It was beautiful, and Felicity wasted no time in jumping on her bed, much to Oliver’s amusement.

After they took a quick nap and ate some room service, they started working.

Felicity and Oliver spent the first 4 days of they stay in San Francisco in their hotel room, wearing pajamas, working 18 hours a day. Their app was completed, and they were both very proud of it, it was clear that there was no way to improve it by this point.

But they still had to work on the documentation that they were going to submit with it, and on their hour long presentation.

It was four days of chaos.  Felicity thought it was going to be awkward, sharing a room with Oliver, but they didn’t have time for that. They spent every minute of every hour together, and while they had gotten to a point where they were comfortable with each other, it was a bit too much, but not at all awkward.

They were both running on caffeine and room service appetizers, Felicity couldn’t remember the last time she brushed her hair, she was wearing Oliver’s shirt by this point and he was wearing her fuzzy socks and no shirt. Tommy started texting them reminders, to eat, stretch their legs or shower.

At one point, room service knocked on their door, but they didn’t ask for anything. Even though it was close to 3 am, they brought a full three course meal, hot coffee and fresh orange juice, and the man said that Moira called the hotel, because neither of them were answering their phone. Turns out they forgot to charge them.

They fought a lot during those four days. But Felicity noticed that they didn’t insult each other anymore. They yelled and screamed and lashed out, but the name calling stopped. She realized it stopped a month ago.

When she told this to Oliver, he froze.

‘Do you want me to go back to calling you an idiot?’

‘No, I want you to go back to thinking of a way to explain how the app will impact the university environment.’

And they were back on track.

They worked hard, but they finished anything they needed to do. They decided on who would say what in the presentation, they spell checked everything 3 times, and they were both satisfied with their result.

After that, they slept for 14 hours straight.

The only weird moment came when, in the morning, Felicity was sitting on the floor in front of the cupboard, because it was the best lit mirror in the room. She was doing her makeup when Oliver came out of the shower. He stood beside her, watching her intently, as he buttoned up a shirt.

‘You’re still beautiful without that.’, he said, startling her.

She was blushing, but she managed to laugh. ‘Now now, Oliver. Don’t you dare start flirting.’

He rolled his eyes, grumbled something she didn’t catch, and threw himself on his bed, waiting for Felicity to finish.

They spent that day walking around the city, taking pictures and eating an indecent amount of icecream. Oliver blushed when he asked Felicity to go with him to a mall and help him pick out a nice dress for Thea. But it was okay, because he helped her pick up a dress for herself too.

When they wondered off to the men’s department, Oliver stopped in front of the tie rack.

‘What are you wearing tomorrow?’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘Clothes?’

He threw her a look. ‘What color?’

‘You wanna match?’, she couldn’t suppress the giggles.

Oliver shrugged. ‘It’s fashionable, apparently.’

Felicity looked at the ties, and pointed to a dark pink one. Oliver sighed, but brought it anyway.

Ѵ

They spent the next day in the hotel conference room, watching other teams present. They barely talked that day, but when they went back to their room, Oliver said what she was thinking.

‘They’re all good, but our idea is better, and practical.’

Still, that didn’t calm her down. Even after she took a long bath, Felicity was still a ball of nerves.

Oliver suggested they’d get massages. She grimaced. Then, he suggested they’d go swimming. She didn’t bring a swimming suit. He didn’t either.

In the end, they watched Die Hard on Oliver’s computer. She fell asleep before the ending, on Oliver’s bed, and when she woke up in the morning, he was asleep beside her, his hand on her lower back, with the laptop still between their legs.

Felicity didn’t think about it.

Ѵ

She took a long time to get ready. It took an hour to put on her makeup, and Oliver watched her the whole time. But they did practice their speeches, so it wasn’t time completely wasted.

When she came out of the bathroom, in a bright pink pencil skirt and a black shirt, Oliver didn’t say anything. When she put on her jewelry, dangling gold earrings and a simple _F_ pendant, he didn’t say anything. When she put on a pair of black pumps, he sighed.

‘Nobody is going to listen to what you’re saying.’

Felicity froze.

‘They’ll be too busy drooling over you.’, he explained, staring at her legs.

She looked to him, to the way his dark charcoal suit fitted him perfectly, to the way it clung to the muscles of his back and his thighs. To how the pink of the tie brought out the pink of his lips, to his perfectly styled hair and freshly shaven jaw. Felicity felt hot all over, but she met his eyes.

‘Likewise’, was all she said, before grabbing everything they needed and walking out the door.

Ѵ

Their presentation went by without a hitch.

For one hour, they both stood on a stage in front of 200 people, and took turns speaking. Neither of them stuttered or missed a queue, and the few questions they were asked at the end, they managed to answer them quickly and on point.

They were done with everything, after four long months, but it didn’t stop them from watching the rest of the presentations that day.

Ѵ

Everything went to hell when they got back to their room. They changed into pajamas, but it was still too early to sleep.

Oliver wanted to watch another movie. Felicity couldn’t bear the thought of falling asleep with him again, so she said she wanted to read.

‘Is this what it’s going to be like? When we go back?’, he asked, and Felicity froze.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Are you going back to ignoring me? Acting like I’m not there? Shutting me out completely?’

Felicity puffed. ‘What about going together to MIT?’

‘I still want that’, he shrugged. ‘Do you?’

She sighed and took a step backwards. ‘I do. I thought I hated you, for years. I don’t, though, you changed what I thought about you. Completely.’

Oliver smiled at that, but it vanished when she continued talking.

‘But we still live in different worlds, Oliver. Outside of school… you have no business to being in my vicinity.’

‘How can you believe that?’, he yelled, taking a step forward.

‘You’re the heir to a multi-billion dollar empire, and my mother works two jobs so she can pay the mortgage my abusive father left behind.’

‘That doesn’t matter!’

‘It does, though!’, Felicity screamed back. ‘Maybe not to you, but to everyone else.’

‘I don’t care about anyone else!’, he took another step forward.

‘You say that now, but you’ll change your mind in three years!’

‘You’re insufferable!’, Oliver roared. ‘You think so lowly of yourself, and so high of me, that you’re not worthy of breathing the same air as Oliver fucking Queen. And it’s bullshit.’

He took another step forward, they were close now, so close, but Felicity didn’t back away. Oliver had rage in his eyes and his bottom lip was trembling.

‘Fuck that, it’s bullshit and fuck you, for not seeing how much-‘

She slapped him.

Felicity slapped him, hard, hard enough for his head to move to the side.

‘Don’t you dare talk to me like that.’, she whispered, her voice breaking.

He grabbed her upper arms, and Felicity had a split second of being scared, until she saw the look in his eyes. It was soft. Gentle, desperate, and full of longing.

‘And fuck you’, he whispered, ‘for not seeing how much I care about you.’

Oliver didn't wait for a reply, he pounced, kissing her. And Felicity stopped breathing.

She stumbled backwards, with the force of his body against hers, but Oliver didn’t let go. Felicity couldn’t move, for a few seconds, but he didn’t let go, and he didn’t take his hands off her, and he didn’t take his lips off hers.

Finally, her brain caught up. She took a deep breath, through her nose, and she quickly brought her hands up, fisting them into the back of Oliver’s t-shirt. 

As soon as she started moving her lips, he ran his tongue along them, and Felicity didn’t hesitate in opening them.

Next thing she knew, her back hitting a wall, and Oliver was pressing his whole body to hers. She melted, completely in his arms, and he responded by tangling his fingers in her hair and kissing her harder.

She has no idea how long they kissed up against the wall. She has no idea how long they kissed on her bed. She has no idea when she fell asleep.

But Felicity does remember waking up with her cheek pressed against his chest, and Oliver’s fingers playing with her hair.

Ѵ

When they get off the plane, they’re holding hands. Felicity panics, for a few seconds, when she sees Robert Queen and Tommy waiting for them at the airport. She tries to take her hand out of Oliver’s, but he doesn’t let her.

Then, Tommy grins. And as they’re getting closer, Felicity sees Oliver’s father sigh, pull out his wallet and hand Tommy a 20 $ bill.

Felicity gapes.

Oliver hits Tommy in the shin. Then, he kisses her and drags her away to the car, with the background sound of his father laughing.

Ѵ

They get the scholarship.

Oliver’s father starts buying him condoms. Moira starts calling Felicity ‘sweetheart’.

Tommy spends a lot of time laughing at them.


	64. Finally, I understood.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [kripnatic](http://kripnatic.tumblr.com/) asked: _Laurel finds out Oliver asked F on a date and it goes haywire and a fight an maybe even a confrontation about why he loves her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY DEAR **KRIPNATIC**. I hope you have an amazing day!   
>  We bonded over our hate for Laurel, so here you go. I hope this pleases you! Hugs and kisses <3

A long time has passed since, well, since everything.

Oliver takes a breath and wills his mind to stop thinking, but he can’t. He’s standing in the lair, their new lair, he just finished a training session with the dummy, and he can’t stop thinking.

A long time has passed since everything, and a lot of things changed in the months after Slade’s capture.

They started with moving everything they could salvage to the new lair, and building it up from there. One day, Waller’s men knocked on the door, bringing equipment that made Felicity jump up in excitement.

When that was done, Oliver went back to being the Arrow, saving the city as much as he could, from behind his hood. But now, he truly believed what he told Slade. He was a hero, and he was bent on working hard from that point on, always being the hero Felicity thought he was.

They weren’t successful in getting QC back. Ray Palmer came along, taking Oliver’s company. Felicity worked as his EA, for long months, she was by his side every day. They started dating, at one point, and Oliver felt lost. He was losing the last remains of his family, and he was losing Felicity, to a presumptuous bastard who's suits were always too tight.

Oliver felt lost. He stopped trying to get QC back, and buried himself under the hood, going out every night for long hours, coming back to his one bedroom apartment in the morning, exhausted and sore.

Diggle’s daughter was born then. When he held her, in the hospital room, Felicity watching him with tears in her eyes, Oliver’s heart crumpled. But he looked at the child in his hands, who was busy playing with the hem of his shirt, and promised himself that he would do anything to protect her. The Arrow will protect her, even if Oliver Queen couldn’t.

But just because he stopped trying, that didn’t mean his team stopped. Felicity, for all she was dating her boss, and still working hard as his EA, got the company back to Oliver.  

One evening, she just bounced her way into the lair, grinning and shoving a stack of papers into Oliver’s hand. She told him that’s his contract, and that he should read it and be ready to sign it tomorrow morning at 9.

‘Don’t be late’, she pointed a finger at his face.

‘What about Palmer?’, Oliver managed to wheeze out.

Felicity shrugged. ‘On his way back to Ivy Town. It’s fine, I’m fine.’

And that was that. Oliver got his company back, and once again, he got Felicity back. She was his EA, his partner, his friend, and one night, it all hit him.

Having spent the last 18 hours working with her, at the office and in the lair, Oliver realized that he was happy. When he was with Felicity, he was happy, and she was everything that he wanted.

For a long time, he didn’t do anything. Oliver was afraid, he was afraid of loving Felicity, loving her properly, loving her as she deserved, so he didn’t say or do anything.

It was Laurel that pushed him. It was Laurel’s presence.

Because she started coming to the lair. Almost every day, after work, she was there for a few hours. Training with Roy and Diggle, helping out with Arrow missions if she could, eating dinner with them and just, generally being there, in the corner of Oliver’s eyes.

And seeing her interact with Felicity, seeing how different they were, how they never agreed on something, how they would butt heads and talk about shoes three minutes later, that’s what made Oliver realize he needed to do something.

Him and Laurel never worked out. And they never will, never again.

But with Felicity, Oliver felt like he had a chance. The biggest chance, a chance of a lifetime.

So he asked her out.

One day, at work, when they were looking over some reports together, he asked her out. He stumbled upon his words, every bone in his body oozing excitement and embarrassment, and she blushed and blinked rapidly, and demanded clarifications three times, but she accepted, with a huge smile on her face.

The date was later tonight. One hour and a half left until they had reservations, and they were still in the lair. Felicity was working on her computers, _just some updates_ , she said, Oliver had just finished his workout, and Roy and Laurel were sparing on the mats.

Felicity appeared in front of Oliver, startling him out of his thoughts. But he smiled.

‘I’m gonna go home and get ready’, she smiled, shyly. ‘Pick me up in an hour?’

Oliver nodded, and they just stood like that for a few seconds, smiling at each other. Felicity snapped out of it first, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, giggling an ‘Okay, bye!’ as she bounced up the stairs.

He just stared dumbly after her, giddy with excitement, a goofy grin on his face. Next thing he knows, the sparing sounds stopped and Laurel is a few feet away, glaring at him.

‘What was that?’

‘What?’, he frowns, sparing a look at Roy who made his way towards Felicity’s desk.

‘That’, Laurel pointed a finger to the stairs. ‘Why are you picking Felicity up?’

Oliver took a deep breath, lowering his head. ‘I made reservations at the new sushi place down town.’

There was a pause. ‘You’re going on a date?’, Laurel screeches, coming closer.

Oliver realizes that she’s mad, but he can’t bring himself to care, or to wipe the smile off his face.

‘Yeah’, he shrugs.

‘Oh thank god’, Roy groaned from where he was sitting on Felicity's desk. ‘Finally! If even I was getting bored with it, poor Digg has seen Hell.’

Oliver snorts, and Laurel completely ignores him.

‘What’s gotten into you?’, she asks.

‘What do you mean?’, Oliver raises an eyebrow.

‘Felicity is not your type’, Laurel frowns. Roy snorts, but she ignores him, continuing. ‘And I thought you decided to stop being the Oliver Queen who slept with every woman that moved in front of him.’

Rage builds up in Oliver, but he takes it down, clenching his fists for control. ‘It’s not like that with Felicity.’

‘It doesn’t make any sense’, Laurel scrunches up her nose, a disgusted look in her eyes.

‘You really don’t know what you’re talking about’, Roy says before Oliver gets to open his mouth, and Laurel snaps at him.

‘I know exactly what I’m talking about! I know Ollie better than anyone.’

‘You really don’t’, Roy snickers, ‘if you’re still calling him that.’

Laurel takes a deep breath, turning back to Oliver, fires of rage in her eyes.

‘Just because she spends a lot of time with you, and wears short skirts and high heels-‘

‘Be careful what the next words that come out of your mouth are’, Oliver growls, fixing her with a look.

Laurel blinks and steps backwards. ‘You cannot be serious’, she hisses.

‘I am very serious’, he nods. ‘I haven’t been this serious about something for a long time.’

She slaps him.

‘What the hell is wrong with you?’, he hisses, frozen in place.

‘Me? What is wrong with you?’, Laurel yells. ‘You want to be with her? She’s a nerd! Most of the time I don’t understand what she’s talking about and the rest of the time she’s making lewd innuendos and screwing things up!’

‘You really don’t know what you’re talking about’, Roy says again, stronger this time, but Laurel ignores him.

‘She doesn’t know you at all, she just knows the Arrow!’, she yells, but then her tone turns softer. ‘You don’t need someone like that in your life, Ollie. You need someone who understands you, who knows you.’

‘I can’t believe this is happening’, Oliver whispers in disbelief, but it doesn’t stop Laurel.

‘You need someone who keeps you in line. Who knows what you’re like, who can help you before you do something you’ll regret.’

‘Someone like you?’, Oliver narrowed his eyes.

Laurel smiled. It made him take a step back.

‘No’, he breathed out, before she got to say anything else. ‘No, you don’t get it.’

‘So explain in to me.’, Laurel sighs.

Oliver takes a deep breath, and smiles.

‘Since I came back, Felicity and Digg are the only people who know me.’

‘That’s not true-‘, Laurel tries, but he doesn’t let her.

‘It is. Laurel, it is true.’, he puffs. ‘In the past years, since I came back, I’ve been trying my best to be someone else. You, my mother, Thea, the press, the board of directors, everybody wanted me to be the same Oliver Queen that got on that boat. And I’m not.’

‘I know that, Ollie, but-‘

‘But you don’t!’, he laughs, bitterly. ‘You have no idea because I’ve only stopped lying to you when you found out about….’

‘About how you and Felicity spend your nights’, Laurel breathes out when he can’t finish the sentence.

‘I’ve always loved her’, Oliver smiles. ‘I think. Since the moment we met and she literally counted backwards to stop talking. And from then on…’

He looks to Roy, who’s watching him with a grin on his face. It makes Oliver chuckle.

‘Every time Felicity didn’t give up on me, I think I’ve been falling a bit more in love with her. Bit by bit.’

‘It just took you too long to figure it out’, Roy winked, and Oliver nodded.

Laurel had tears in her eyes, and while it broke Oliver’s heart to see his friend like that, he knew he needed to do this.

‘I’m sorry, Laurel, I am, but you and me…’, he shakes it head.

‘And you love her?’, she asks, incredulously. ‘The woman who can’t keep her mouth shut, who can’t fight, who barely manages to be your secretary? The nerd who before she met you had no life?’

‘No.’, Oliver looked to her chair, when there was a bright pink jumper, that Felicity always left behind. ‘I love the woman who never once gave up on me. Who flew half way across to world to get me back home. Who let herself be kidnapped by Slade, who puts her life in danger every chance she gets.’, he laughs.

‘I’m in love with my executive assistant that never brings me coffee, but always brings me lunch, who brightens my day just by being there.’

He looks back to Laurel, whose anger has disappeared by now, she just looks sad.

‘I’m in love with Felicity’, Oliver smiles, ‘because I can’t picture my life without her in it, and because every seconds that she doesn't spend in my arms is wasted.’

It takes a few long moments, but finally, Laurel nods, whispers a barely heard ‘fine’ and leaves.

Roy is still grinning. ‘Oliver Queen, a hopeless romantic’, he snorts. ‘Who would’ve thought?’

He glares, and opens his mouth to say something, but Roy points a finger to his watch. ‘You have to pick Felicity up in 30 minutes.’

He runs to the shower.

-/-

When he gets to her house, Felicity is already waiting on her front stairs. She’s wearing a short summer dress, dark purple with a pattern of big pink flowers, her hair is down and she’s smiling.

‘So I got a call from Roy’, she smirks as Oliver makes his way towards her.

He growls in annoyance, but it just makes Felicity laugh.

‘It’s okay’, she grins up at him. ‘He spoke very highly of you.’

Oliver’s not convinced.

‘And very lowly of Laurel’, Felicity ads, with a frown.

‘I’m sorry’, Oliver sighs and that makes Felicity smile again.

‘I know you are. And, look, I get it’, she shrugs. ‘If you don’t want to do this, I’ll understand. I just need you to tell me, and tell me now. Please.’

Oliver sighs, smiling down at her. But then he grabs her hand, and uses his free one to put on her neck. He grins when her eyes widen, and he quickly gives her a small kiss on the lips.

But he doesn’t move far after that.

‘I want to do this’, Oliver smiles. ‘I really want to do this, and I have been wanting it for longer than I’ve realized.’

Felicity’s silent for all of three seconds. Then she grins, wraps her hands around Oliver’s neck, whispers an excited ‘okay’, and kisses him like there’s no tomorrow.


	65. Into the rabbit hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Prompt: Pretend boyfriend/girlfriend_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... is **not** what you expect it to be.   
>  *evil laughter*  
> You're gonna love it.

‘What do you mean you need me to be your girlfriend?’, Felicity shrieks, face red from embarrassment and anger, she isn’t completely sure.

Oliver lowers his head. ‘I mean that I need to get into this party in order to get the information we need. And I can only get into this party if I appear with a girlfriend.'

‘Or boyfriend’, he adds after a beat.

That makes Felicity’s eyes grow wide.

‘What type of party is it?’, she asks, slowly, dreading the answers.

Oliver winces and closes his eyes. ‘A swinger’s party.’

Felicity is silent for all of two seconds, until she starts laughing, hysterically, tears falling down her face, but anger still boiling up in her chest.

‘So not only do you need me to pretend to be your girlfriend, but you also want me to switch places with some other random stranger? Are you insane?’, she hisses. ‘How the hell do you think the press is going to take Oliver Queen, hanging out with his EA at a swingers club?’

‘It’s a masked party’, Oliver deadpanned.

Felicity threw her hands up in frustration, he was way too calm and that made her angrier.

‘No, no, absolutely not. Not happening, not in a million years, Oliver.’

‘We need to do this, in order to-‘

‘To get the bad guy, I know!’, she yells. ‘Get Laurel to do it!’

‘There’s too much history for it to be sane.’, Oliver growled. ‘Felicity, I need you-‘

‘No’, she screams, and it makes him stop talking, regarding her with anger now.

Felicity takes a few steps towards Oliver, and whispers to him, trying her best to make sure that Digg and Roy, who have been watching the discussion in silence, don’t hear what she’s saying. ‘There are things we never talk about, Oliver, and I accepted that. But think about how our relationship has been like in the past months, and think if you’ll be able to _pretend_ to be with me. Because I sure as hell can’t.’

Because things have been different. Since he said those words to her in the mansion, in front of Slade’s cameras, their relationship changed. They grew even closer than before, and in the months that followed, working side by side to get him the company back, rebuilding the lair and figuring everything out, things changed. They touched more, there was no hesitation anymore. There were goodnight kisses on the cheek and a lot of slow dances at galas. They talked a lot more, they texted constantly when they weren’t together, and at least once a week they’d have dinner together, just the two of them. But they never crossed the line. She tried to, once, but he turned his head away and begged her not to. And that was that.

Felicity couldn’t handle faking to be Oliver’s girlfriend, because she’d forget they were faking it.

And Oliver seemed to agree, because he closed his eyes and nodded. ‘So what we do?’

Felicity turned around and looked at Digg and Roy, who were both busy pretending not to listen in. Then, she grinned, looking back to Oliver with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

‘I don’t know’, she batted her eyelashes. ‘People would probably assume that Digg’s a top and Roy’s a bottom. What are _you_ more comfortable with?’

Felicity never saw her boys look so flustered before. It was glorious.

→♡←

In the end, the men drew straws, Felicity laughing her ass off in the background. Roy drew the short one, so he would be the one going with Oliver. Still, Felicity did her best to be supportive, so she brought them both masks that covered most of their faces, but were glamorous enough to fit the occasion.

A week later, both Roy and Oliver were grumbling and snapping at each other all day. When it was finally time for them to leave, Felicity talked as much as she could, to distract them enough to stop them from killing each other.

It seemed to work, but the silence that passed over the men as Digg drove them to the party was defying to Felicity’s ears.

They all switched the comm links open when they entered the party, as Digg waited for them in the car.

The first thing Roy said once they were inside was ‘holy shit’. The second thing Roy said once they were inside was ‘I’m oddly glad Felicity didn’t have to see this’.

The first thing Oliver said once they were inside was ‘That cannot be sanitary’.

Felicity tweaked the comm, so that only Digg could hear her. ‘Would you be calmer if I’d break into the security cameras feed and direct them to your tablet?’

Digg snorted. ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’

Felicity shrugged, even if he didn’t see her. ‘A little gay porn never killed anybody’.

John chocked on air, but he reluctantly asked her to hack the feed.

→♡←

After she did that, Felicity was very glad that she was alone in the lair, so nobody could see her blush and fan herself.

Because _ohlord_.

The party was held in a large warehouse, but the way it was decorated, it looked like a 5 star hotel. It was furnished with large ottomans, there were a few large beds with baldachins, there were a lot of mattresses on the floor, bean bags, chairs and tables fitted around a small dance floor and ohlord, there were a lot of people having sex.

It was dark in the warehouse, but the cameras had night vision, so Felicity could clearly see Roy and Oliver sitting at the bar, a couple of feet away from where a woman was bent over it, a large man pounding into her, slapping her ass and pulling her hair.

Roy was staring at them, Oliver was staring at two gay men who were jerking each other off on a nearby loveseat and they both shuddered when they looked back to each other.

Felicity then watched in giddy amusement as Oliver ordered them shots, two each, and they quickly drank them. Then, she heard Oliver say in a gruff voice, ‘We should dance’.

Roy grunted, but grabbed his hand and directed them towards the dance floor.

Felicity would never say it out loud, but the moment Oliver’s hand landed on Roy’s hips, a very hot flash crossed her whole body. They were dancing, close to each other, bodies flush from shoulders to knees, Roy’s hands settled on Oliver’s neck and Oliver’s moving on the younger man’s back. Still, both of them were looking around, and Felicity knew they were searching for their target.

‘Are you seeing this?’, Digg’s voice startled her.

‘How old is Roy, anyway? Is he legal?’, Felicity screeched.

‘I’m 22!’, Roy’s yell came through, and Felicity realized she turned the comms on.

She was about to reply, something, anything, but she kept her mouth shut as she saw a woman, beautiful and very much naked, make her way to Roy and Oliver and plaster herself on their sides.

Felicity didn’t hear what she said, but she saw Oliver gently push her away and his sweet voice telling her that they don’t play for her team. She went away, but not before grabbing a handful of their assess.

‘Felicity, did you hack the video feeds?’, Oliver said, while lowering his head into Roy’s neck, continuing on dancing.

‘Maybe’, she giggled.

‘I hate you’, Roy deadpanned, and Felicity saw Oliver pinch his side.

‘Find Mason then’, Oliver ordered, and Felicity shook her head and went into business mode.

Mason was the man they were after, the one who organized this party. But they also knew he was a pimp, making girls prostitute themselves against their will, keeping them in horrible conditions and abusing them. But they had no proof, and that was what they were after.

She found Mason, and a groan escaped her lips before she could control it.

‘What?’, Oliver and Roy said at the same time.

‘I found Mason’, she groaned some more. ‘But he’s occupied at the moment. With a twink, a woman dressed just in fishnets and some handcuffs.’

‘What’s a twink?’, Oliver asked and Felicity closed her eyes.

‘Tiny, small, thin, young man who’s usually a bottom’.

There was a pause.

‘I really do not want to know why you know that’, Digg said.

‘I really do not want to think about why you seem so comfortable with all of this.’, Roy added.

‘I mean’, Felicity giggled before Oliver got to say anything, ‘I think I appreciate the fact that you guys don’t ever think of me sexually, but that doesn’t mean I’m a monk.’

She was met with silence.

‘Or a prude’, she added with a giggle.

‘Can we get back to the mission?’, Oliver grunted, and Felicity saw him running a hand down his face.

‘Yes’, Felicity smothered her laugh, ‘and _the mission_ is momentarily getting head. So you boys get back to dancing. Heads up, there are at least 6 women around you staring, so prepare yourself for their attack.’

Roy groaned, and Oliver dragged him back to the bar.

→♡←

Five shots later, Oliver was sitting with his back against the bar, Roy plastered to his front. Oliver had his hands in Roy’s pockets and for anyone watching, it looked like he was mouthing at Roy’s neck, even if he was talking with Digg.

‘Heads up’, Felicity said, excitement seeping through her voice, ‘Mason is heading straight for you’.

‘Is he dressed?’, Roy’s voice came through, disgusted and weary.

‘Barely’, she giggled. ‘He has boxers on.’

Seconds later, Mason stepped right in front of Roy, making Oliver look up.

‘I couldn’t help but notice you’re not having any fun.’, Mason smiled.

‘Not our fault only women want to play’, Oliver said, in a husky voice, as Roy gave Mason an exaggerated once-over.

He didn’t answer, choosing to pounce on Roy instead. He kissed him, fisting a hand in his hair, and to everyone’s surprise, Roy didn’t even flinch. He instantly kissed Mason back, grabbing his ass and pulling him against his body, as Oliver just stared.

Felicity switched off her connection to Roy, fearing Mason hearing it, because he was so close, and she still kept her voice low.

‘Oliver, do something.’

That seemed to make him snap out of it, and Felicity was once again surprised by how her body reacted to Oliver grabbing a hold of Mason’s hair, drawing his head back. He leaned close, he was a breath away from Mason’s face, and his voice dropped when he spoke.

‘We don’t like people watching. Can we go somewhere more private?’

Mason grinned and quickly scrambled to make his way to the other part of the warehouse.

‘You’re heading towards his office’, Felicity said. ‘It’s not guarded, at all, and he doesn’t have any visible guns on display’.

When they got there, Felicity saw Mason hold the door open. Roy was the first one to step in, then Oliver. Mason barely got to close the door behind him, because Oliver already had him pinned with his back against the door, securing Mason’s hands above his head.

Mason grinned, and turned his neck to the side, expecting Oliver to kiss him there, probably.

But instead, Oliver reached to the back of his pants, pulling out a gun at pointing it at Mason’s temple. Roy had his pointed at Mason’s chest.

Felicity grinned at the terrified expression on Mason’s face, breathing out a whispered ‘that was so cool’, making Roy snort, and Oliver glance, briefly, to the video camera.

→♡←

An hour later, Mason was in Police custody, the orgy was busted and Oliver, Roy and Diggle finally made their way back to the lair.

They didn’t say anything, though, not one word, not even when Felicity grinned so wide, her cheeks hurt.

‘I am going to shower for three years’, Roy said, jogging to the bathroom and not meeting anybody’s eye.

‘I am going to go home and forget this night ever happened’, Digg said, clapping Oliver on the back and heading out.

‘You weren’t even there’, Oliver grumbled, making his way towards one of the tables and hopping on it.

It was odd for him to do that, so Felicity raised an eyebrow.

‘You okay?’, she asked, as softly as possible.

Oliver grunted.

‘Did you fight with Roy on the way back?’

He shook his head, not looking at her.

Felicity snickered as she made his way towards him, stopping a few steps in front of him, momentarily getting distracted by the way he was dangling his feet.

‘Are you having a mid-life crisis?’, she smiled.

Oliver finally looked up, scoffing.

‘I’m not old enough to have a mid-life crisis.’

‘Okay’, Felicity amended, ‘are you have having a sexual identity crisis?’

He sighed, deeply, but then he looked down at Felicity’s body for a couple of seconds, making her blush. Oliver’s eyes stopped on her cleavage and Felicity’s jaw dropped.

‘Definitely not.’, he smirked, not taking his eyes off her breasts.

He was drunk, Felicity realized. Well, no, he wasn’t drunk, but he had 7 shots in him, and it was clear that they made him more carefree, considering he was still. staring. at. her. breasts.

Felicity took a deep breath, delighted to see his eyes flash with the movement that caused, and took a step forward, bravely slotting herself between his legs.

‘I don’t think I believe that’, she smirked. ‘Care to prove it?’

Oliver’s eyes snapped up to hers.

‘If I kiss you right now, I might never stop.’

‘That’s really not a bad thing, Oliver’, Felicity breathed out, staring intently at his lips and bringing her hands up to rest on his knees.

‘I’m really glad you didn’t come with me tonight’, Oliver grunted, voice low and his hands tightening on her hips. ‘Because I would’ve screwed the mission.’

Felicity hummed. ‘Screwed the mission and screwed me instead?’

Oliver didn’t really get to answer that, because he was too busy kissing her senseless.

→♡←

Roy came out of the bathroom an hour later.

Oliver was still on the table, Felicity was still slotted between his legs, his hands were up her skirt and she was busy giving him a hickey.

Roy yelped, covered his eyes, ran to the stairs and told them he hated them so much, so fucking much.

They didn’t stop kissing.


	66. Felicity vs. baby bump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [maysworlds](http://maysworlds.tumblr.com/) asked: _Okay, Oliver and Felicity have been publicly dating for a while, maybe even married, at some point Oliver starts to say no to most of his suggestions for hanging out, and Tommy starts taking it kinda personally, so one day Felicity sits them both down and says something along the line of: “Honey, you could tell him, I know I said I didin’t want anyone to know, but he’s your best friend, and Tommy, please, make some programs that don’t involve alchool, I’m pregnant, and Oliver has been not so subtly hinting it for a couple of weeks now… ” Something like that… So, thank you already!! Love ya!!_
> 
> and
> 
> Anon asked: _I don't know where to submit prompts lol but can you do another pregnant olicity drabble? I fucking love those_

They decided they wouldn’t tell everybody. Not just yet.

Felicity and Oliver hadn’t been together for a long time when she got pregnant. They’ve been dating each other only for 8 months, but they’ve been living together for 7 and half. That didn’t stop them for instantly agreeing on keeping the baby.

Once again, Oliver told her that there’s no choice to make, and she agreed with him this time. They were in love, they knew they were going to spend the rest of their lives together, Starling was calming down, the Arrow mostly doing patrols and drug busts these days. It felt like a good time.

It was still soon, but, as Oliver put it, _Felicity, we’ve had something long before we got together. I think we would have been ready to have a baby a couple of months ago_. And well, she agreed.

So here they were. Pregnant, and keeping it to themselves.

Digg knew, though. He figured it out when Felicity had a pretty violent moment of morning sickness. Even if it was 4 in the morning, and they were still at the lair. And while he was happy for them, he also understood why they wanted to keep it to themselves for a bit more time.

Firstly, because they knew how the press reacted to them announcing that they were a couple. It was crazy, the news of Oliver Queen and his EA was the talk of the whole city for weeks. Felicity barely survived it, her nerves were a wreck.

Secondly, they were scared. Oliver was scared of the people who hated Oliver Queen, who might want to try and hurt Felicity in order to hurt him, and Felicity was scared about everybody telling her that it was too soon. Most of them would assume she’s a gold digger and by having his baby, she’d have a constant opening into the Queen’s money, and she wanted to postpone those particular talks and interviews for as long as possible.

They were happy, though.

But it wasn’t easy, keeping this away from their friends. Granted, they didn’t have that many, and the fact that Diggle knew made everything easier. But Thea kept parading other women in front of Oliver, because she thought Felicity was just a passing thing.  And Tommy and Laurel, well…

Laurel didn’t seem to have any opinion concerning Felicity. Ever. They were polite to one another, but Felicity couldn’t say they were friends. Tommy, though, Tommy loved Felicity. He adored her, and he loved the way Oliver changed when he was with her, as he told her time and time again, that Oliver was happy and that she was the one doing that, and for that, he will forever be grateful to her. They spent time together, down in the lair, when Oliver was patrolling or when Tommy just wanted a break from Verdant. It was nice, and it made the weekly dinner with Tommy and Laurel easier for Felicity.

Lately, though, in the past two weeks, Tommy figured something was up. Of course, he deduced it wrong.

Tommy thought Oliver was mad at him. Because they never saw each other outside the lair anymore.

The truth was that Oliver was always rushing home to be with Felicity. Even if she was still in her first trimester, she was still working at full capacity and when night came, she was very tired. And Oliver was overly protective on a normal basis, but now, with a baby on the way, he was even worse.

Then there was that time when they refused to go with Tommy and Laurel to a pool party. Because Felicity’s baby bump started showing.

They never came up to Verdant anymore, just to hang out with Tommy while he was working. Because crowded place made Felicity feel sick and she couldn’t drink anymore.

Tommy confronted Oliver. Oliver said nothing, assuring Tommy that everything was okay. Tommy knew Oliver was lying.

Felicity had enough of it. But Oliver still didn’t want to tell Tommy.

On the next weekly dinner with Tommy and Laurel, Felicity and Oliver were late. It was her fault, she took a bit more time than normal getting ready, because her skin was acting up because of all the new hormones in her body, but also because it was getting harder to hide her belly with baby-doll shirts.

When they finally got there, the first thing Tommy did was to pout and glare at Oliver:

‘I wasn’t sure you were going to make it, I figured I pissed Oliver off too much.’

Oliver groaned his best friend’s name, as he held the chair for Felicity. After they were both seated, the couple glared at each other, but Oliver still wouldn’t budge.

So Felicity sighed, smiled lovingly at him and put a hand on his knee.

‘The words have to come out of your mouth. And if they don’t come out in the next 15 seconds, I am going to ruin it.’

‘I-‘, Oliver tried, but he didn’t go on.

‘No’, Felicity threw him a pointed look. ‘Not _I_ , you’re supposed to start either with _we_ , or with _Felicity_.’

He still didn’t say anything. Both Tommy and Laurel were watching them curiously, so they were all surprised when the waiter came to the table and asked them if they wanted any drinks.

Nobody said anything.

Oliver was looking at Tommy, a scared and defeated look in his eyes, Tommy was looking at Felicity, very confused and Laurel was looking at Oliver, one judgmental eyebrow raised.

Felicity sighed and turned to the waiter, managing to smile up at him.

‘Hi. They’re all be having a glass of champagne, and I’ll be having a glass of ginger ale. Please.’

The waiter lifted an eyebrow, his eyes skipping to her belly. Felicity nodded, and the waiter smiled.

‘I’ll be right back, Miss Smoak.’

They were regulars by this point, and this particular waiter has been serving them every week for the past 5 months. After she got pregnant, he always looked curiously at her when he would take her still full glass of wine at the end of dinner, but he never said anything.

But now, we was grinning and nodding to himself.

‘Congratulations’, he winked at Oliver and went to the bar.

When Felicity turned around, Tommy and Laurel were both frowning at her.

‘They still don’t get it’, she sighed, looking towards Oliver.

He shook his head, jaw dropped and an alarmed expression still on his face.

‘Oh for god’s sake’, Felicity grumbled, getting up from her chair and running her hands over her stomach, making the flowy material of her shirt stick to her bump and keeping it there.

Laurel and Tommy were still frowning.

Oliver cleared his throat. ‘We’re pregnant’, he whispered, grabbing a hold of Felicity’s hand.

Tommy yelped. He was off his chair in a blink of an eye, rushing to the other side of the table, bypassing Oliver completely, to everyone’s surprise. He grabbed a hold of Felicity, hugging her tightly, crushing her really. But she laughed, bringing her arms around his waist.

After he let go of her, Tommy hugged Oliver, tightly. He said something to him, that made Oliver’s bottom lip tremble, but Felicity didn’t hear it.

When they were all seated again, Laurel took Oliver’s hand, squeezing it once. She didn’t say anything, but Oliver nodded nonetheless and took a big breath. Felicity saw a lot of tension fade away from him, and she was grateful.

After the waiter came back with the drinks, Laurel was still frowning.

‘Isn’t it a bit soon?’, she asked, softly, but it still made Felicity flinch.

Oliver instantly grabbed hold of her hand under the table, as he answered Laurel.

‘No’, he smiled. ‘It’s really not.’

‘But you’ve only been dating for 8 months’, she frowned. ‘And you just moved in with her a couple of weeks ago.’

‘7 months and a half’, Felicity said quickly, shocking Laurel into silence.

Tommy put his hands around her girlfriend’s shoulder, and chuckled.

‘Everybody knew there was something between these two long before they got together. Everybody except Oliver, that is.’

That made him pout, and Felicity laughed, and all the tension once away vanished from the table.

They had dinner, and it was nice. And for desert, the chef sent them each a cupcake, decorated with pink and blue frosting, along with his congratulations.

When they got home that night, Oliver said that he was ready, and they should tell everyone, talk to PR and hold a press conference. That made Felicity very glad, and she went to sleep more relaxed than she felt in the past 3 months.

The gifts started the next day. Tommy got the baby a onesie that said _my dad is a superhero_. Oliver cried, Felicity laughed, and Tommy hugged them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Personal shit happened, then some other personal stuff. I'm sorry.
> 
> Secondly, you're getting another chapter sometime next week. But after that, I'll be leaving town and I have a 'commission' sterek fic to write, so Pink on Green will go on a bit of a hiatus.
> 
> But, I'm pretty sure I'll be still doing Pink on Green till season three starts. And then, I'll probably end it and start Pink on Green 2 or something :). So there's that :).
> 
> Thank you all for the support, I love you guys so much and really, it's cheesy, but your love for these drabbles makes my heart beat three times faster. <3


	67. Smoak vs. Deathstroke - continuation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _A continuation of[ **ch. 10**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1414105/chapters/3149938) Slade v. Smoke. I would love to see the conversation between felicity and Oliver after everything that happened. (if can end with them becoming olicity that would be perfect!)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like doing follow ups for my drabbles. But this one... well. I saw it. And I had to write it. (And I did promise some Deadshot, so there's that.)

The ambulances take them to ARGUS HQ. It takes a few hours for the doctors to take care of their wounds, and when they’re done, they’re directed to a large conference room.

When Felicity gets there, Roy’s already waiting, because he wasn’t injured at all. He sighs when he sees her, eyes roaming over her body, stopping at every piece of gauze tape on display.

‘I’m fine’, she smiles, making her way to sit on a chair next to him, ‘but you’re not getting your hoodie back’.

Roy snorts. ‘I have more. Heard anything about them?’

She doesn’t have to think who he’s talking about.

‘Lyla came to see me when I was getting stitched up, said they’ll be fine, but there’s work to be done. It’ll probably take a while longer.’

‘Okay’, Roy nods, sinking a bit more into his chair.

They both jump in their seats a couple of minutes later, when the door opens. But it’s only Deadshot, carrying a tray with steaming cups of coffee and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Felicity frowns, and he smiles at her, sitting down in front of her on the opposite side of the table.

She shrugs, and grabs a cup of coffee, groaning in pleasure when the hot liquid warms her throat. Roy grabs a couple of sandwiches and starts devouring them.

Felicity stares, for a few long seconds, as he wolfs the food down, until she slaps him gently on the back of his head.

‘Manners’.

He rolls his eyes, muttering a ‘yes mom’ under his breath, but he does eat the food slowly.

Deadshot smiles all the while. It’s still weird.

She caves after a few minutes.

‘I know I’m not at my best’, Felicity glares at him, ‘with the bruises and cuts and I’m too scared to even think about combing my hair, but could you please stop staring?’

‘You’re still gorgeous’, he doesn’t miss a beat in answering, making Felicity freeze.

Roy glares, dropping his plate on the table with a loud bang. Lawton keeps grinning.

‘Thank you’, Felicity breathes out. ‘But I have bigger problems at the moment.’

‘Shouldn’t take much longer’, he nods, looking at his watch.

Roy goes back to eating. Felicity closes her eyes and keeps them closed, sipping on her coffee every now and then.

Digg is the next to come in, Lyla close behind. He’s in a wheelchair, but he stands up to hug Felicity, assuring her that he’s fine. Lyla tells them that Sara ran away as soon as she was good enough to walk, but that she was okay.

Oliver comes in a few minutes later, in crutches, glaring at the nurse who helped him get to the conference room.

He collapses on the chair next to Felicity, grunting and glaring at Deadshot. Then, he sighs, and turns around, looking from Felicity to Roy, to John and Lyla.

‘Everyone okay?’

‘It’ll heal’, John nods. ‘You?’

‘Yeah’, Oliver sighs. Then he turns to Deadshot, glaring again. ‘Where’s Waller?’

‘On her way, probably.’, he shrugs.

‘Shouldn’t Turner be here too?’, Felicity frowns. ‘If she wants a debrief with everyone?’

‘He already debriefed her.’, Deadshot smiles at her. ‘He’s on another mission.’

Felicity opens her mouth, then promptly closes it. ‘You know what? I don’t wanna know.’

Deadshot smirks.

When Waller appears 5 minutes later, Oliver is still glaring at Deadshot, John is holding hands with Lyla and Felicity’s cheek is on Roy’s shoulder.

She doesn’t exchange any type of pleasantries, just gets on to business. It takes half an hour for all of them to tell their side of the story, and when it’s done, Waller looks at Felicity.

‘The device that you made is useful.’

‘Yes’, she shrugs.

‘ARGUS would like to see the schematics for it.’

‘No.’, Felicity snorts, making everyone in the room stare at her. ‘What? It’s my work. If ARGUS wants it, then they can pay me for it. Or they can wait until I patent it and sell the schematics directly to the US government, you’ll get them eventually.’

‘How much do you want?’, Waller asks slowly, narrowing her eyes.

‘That depends.’, Felicity frowns. ‘What do you plan on doing with Slade?’

There’s a barely there shock on Amanda’s face, but it’s gone quickly. ‘We’re already working on an antidote’, she says with a pointed look towards Roy. ‘Until then, we’re keeping him sedated.’

‘And after that?’, it’s Oliver who asks. ‘What happens after you give him the antidote?’

Waller looks to Deadshot.

‘No’, Felicity shrieks, banging her hand on the metal table. ‘Are you serious right now?’

Waller doesn’t say anything.

‘You want Slade to work for you? With other people? He set the town on fire!’, she yells. ‘Hundreds of people are dead, because he wanted revenge on one person.’

‘We have ways of-‘, Waller tries, but Felicity doesn’t let her.

‘Yeah, and I’m sure he will be terrified by an explosive device and he’ll never find a way to get rid of it.’

The two women glare at each other for a few moments, until Deadshot clears his throat.

‘Blondie’s right, m'am.’

Felicity grabs a sandwich and promptly throws it at him. Deadshot ducks, staring at her in shock. Everyone is.

‘What did I tell you about calling me that, Lawton?’, Felicity says forcefully. ‘It’s been one hell of day, you really don’t want to get on my bad side.’

She turns to Waller. ‘And on that note. How about this? I give you the schematics to my device, and you build us a prison.’

‘What?’, Oliver, John and Roy ask together.

‘Iron Heights isn’t so good at keeping their prisoners in. And every now and then, the Arrow _is_ going to catch someone who is too evil to risk putting in there. You can’t just take all of them and put them in the Suicide Squad, not all of them are redeemable’, she spares a look at Deadshot, who’s watching her curiously.

‘So build a prison.’, Felicity looks back to Waller. ‘A proper one, that can hold people as evil as Slade.’

‘People the Arrow is going to put there’, Waller says, slowly.

Felicity shrugs. ‘I kinda threw modesty out the window when my plan _worked_ tonight. So yes, people the Arrow and his team are going to put there.’

‘Built it on Lian Yu’, Oliver’s gruff voice startles the women. ‘Slade deserves to rot there.’

Waller says nothing, but she does nod and get up from her chair. When she’s halfway through the door, she instructs Lyla to make sure everybody gets home.

Digg and Lyla are out the door quickly, followed by Roy. When Felicity wants to follow them, Oliver stops her with a hand on her upper arm.

‘We need to talk’, he says, and there’s anger seeping throw.

‘Tomorrow’, Felicity sighs, the events of the day finally catching up with her.

‘No’, Oliver says, gruffly, and she’s too tired to argue.

‘Okay. So… it’s not like you have anywhere else to go’, she frowns, ‘we’ll fix that tomorrow. So you’re sleeping over.’

Deadshot catcalls, and Oliver quickly turns to glare at him, while Felicity blinks.

She takes a forceful step forward, but Oliver stops her from advancing more.

‘I will slap you’, she growls at Lawton. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

‘You’re feisty’, he grins. ‘I like it.’

Oliver growls, low in his throat, holding on to Felicity tighter.

‘I will punch you’, is all he says, gravely, before dragging Felicity away.

The rest of their team doesn’t even bat an eye when Oliver tells Lyla that he’s staying with Felicity. If she wouldn’t be so tired, she’d probably think about it. But she is very tired, so she just follows Oliver to a car and rattles her address to the driver.

Next thing she knows, she’s in her bedroom, fresh out of the shower. Oliver’s in there now, and she’s rummaging through her drawers to find relics of old boyfriends, clothes that might fit him.

Felicity can barely keep her eyes opened, but she sits in the middle of the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, waiting for Oliver to come out of the shower. He does, a few minutes later, dressed in a pair of black shorts and the MIT shirt she gave him.

When he comes into the bedroom, he just looks at her for a few seconds. There’s hurt in his eyes, and anger, and it scares Felicity, but she doesn’t say a word. She just waits.

Waits until he finally moves, slowly but with certainty, stepping around the bed so he could sit on the edge of it, close to Felicity. She crosses her feet and leans against the head board, sighing deeply but managing to smile at him.

He takes a deep breath and looks away from her eyes, looks at her knee, where there’s an ugly bruise and a bunch of small cuts. When he talks, it’s slow and whispered, and his voice breaks.

‘What you did tonight was reckless and stupid’, Oliver starts.

‘It worked’, she argues, but her voice is barely above a whisper.

‘But it could have failed. And you could have been dead.’, he’s taking deep breath between words, his chest shaking. ‘And if you die, I don’t… I can’t…’

Oliver closes his eyes, and the next thing she knows, he’s collapsing onto her, his head in her lap. Felicity freezes, staring down at him in shock, her heart beating a mile a minute. But he’s shaking, he’s shaking so hard, she never saw him like this and it scares her to death.

So she shifts down on the bed, until Oliver’s head is over her stomach, until his hands are wrapped around her thighs, until she feels every breath he takes. Felicity puts a hand on his neck, and uses her other one to lightly scratch his scalp.

They stayed like that for a while, in complete silence, his eyes closed. The only things she heard were Oliver’s deep breaths. He wasn’t crying, but he wasn’t far from it.

‘It’s over’, she whispers when he stopped shaking. ‘Waller’s going to fix him and she’s going to lock him up.’

‘He can’t be fixed.’, Oliver whispers brokenly and Felicity gently squeezes his neck.

‘Cure him. She’s going to cure him.’

Oliver doesn't respond.

‘I’m sorry.’, she pushes, wanting him to talk. ‘He was your friend.’

‘My friend died on the island.’, he says gruffly, holding onto her a little bit tighter.

They're silent again, until Oliver finally opens his eyes. He shifts his head a bit, looking at her. There are unshed tears in his eyes, but there isn't any more rage. Oliver just looks vulnerable and desperate. Small, even though his big form is crushing Felicity's body.

‘If you die’, he whispers, ‘there would be nothing of me left. You’re my last shred of humanity, and I would not survive loosing you.’

Felicity is shocked into silence.

‘I love you’, Oliver continues, closing his eyes again, digging his fingers into her flesh. ‘I do, I love you. And I’m scared. I’m scared that my love will kill you. And I can’t… I can’t let that happen.’

He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. ‘How can I protect you, when you’re letting yourself get kidnapped?’

It takes a while for Felicity to gather her thoughts, but before she talks, she lifts Oliver’s head and pushes herself further down the bed, until his face is right above hers.

She wipes a tear off his face, and tries her best to not let her own fall.

‘I’m tired’, she sighs. ‘I’m tired of running circles around you, of trembling when you touch me and I'm tired of feeling my knees go weak when you smile at me.’

‘How do you think I feel every night?’, she laughs, brokenly. ‘I’m terrified, when you put on the hood and go out into the dark. I’m scared of you not coming back, I’m scared of living a life without you in it.’

She takes a trembling breath to calm herself, and digs her fingers into Oliver's skin, on the back of his neck. He shivers and closes his eyes when Felicity starts speaking again, voice barely above a whisper. 

‘I had to learn to live with that fear. And now, you have to accept the fact that I will always do anything to save you. And this city.’

He leans into her touch, and Felicity takes confidence from that.

‘It would be easier, Oliver’, she whispers. ‘If we’d do it together.’

She doesn’t wait for an answer, she just grabs Oliver’s neck and pulls him down. But he doesn’t resist the kiss.

He kisses her back, slowly but surely, both of them breathing heavily into each other’s mouths. His fingers are digging bruises in her hip and her nails are scratching his neck.

They kiss for a long time, until Felicity can’t keep her eyes open. He shifts them, until her back is plastered to his chest, until his strong arms are enveloping her completely.

The last thing Felicity is aware of before she falls asleep, are his lips on her neck, and his soft voice telling her to sleep, promising her he’ll be here in the morning.

-

In the morning, everybody comes knocking at Felicity’s door. Lyla and Digg, Roy and Sara. They bring coffee and food, and none of them bat an eye at the way Oliver and Felicity can’t keep their hands off each other.

John stares, for a long moment, at their intertwined fingers, and then he sighs, grins and tells the room Lyla’s pregnant.

It’s chaos after that, of hugs and tears and laughs.

After they all leave, several hours later, Oliver hugs Felicity tight, in the middle of her kitchen. He kisses her forehead, and whispers ‘we can do this’ into her hair.

Felicity grins, pushing up on her toes so she can kiss the corner of his mouth. ‘We’re already doing this.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said on the last update, I'm going on a bit of a hiatus. I still have a lot of prompts piled up, and I will do them. But I'm leaving town for a week, and then I promised someone I'll write them another fic, so yeah. Pink on Green is on hiatus for a few weeks.  
> I'm sorry, I feel like I'm betraying you here. But eh, life. I'll be back, though. Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die:). Thank you all for the support and stalk me on [tumblr](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com) if you want :). [The tag you want to check is _sim writes fanfiction_ ]


	68. oil-city

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [rinahale](http://rinahale.tumblr.com) asked: _write me up a lil oil-city something-something? you did say you got a few ideas from the way i always read olicity so - show momma wacha got, baby gurl!_
> 
> [We were talking, and I said _olicity_ , and she read _oil-city_ and my mind went kinky. This, however, is not that kinky. Just fun.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
>  _GUESS WHO'S BACK?_   
>  **
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this Pink On Green hiatus. It is done now, we're back to our normal schedule.  
> Prompts are still closed, cause I still have like 30 of them to do. But it's gonna be fun.  
> Thank you if you're still here. As always, constructive criticism is always welcomed. And feel free to come to my [tumblr](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com) and join me in my meltdown over Arrow season 3. And other things.  
>  _Enjoy your reading!_

Felicity couldn’t believe it happened. It was like a scene from a stupid kid’s TV show, and it wasn’t even Arrow related.

She was having lunch with Oliver in the office, chatting about nothing important, waiting for Diggle to arrive so they could discuss their night time activities. They didn’t get to do that, because a man just waltzed into the office, waving a gun around.

Oliver was in front of Felicity in an instant, and Felicity saw that he was going to attack, so she put a hand on his back and told him not to. He was Oliver Queen, after all, not the Arrow.

So the guy started talking, angrily, pointing his gun at them, nervously fiddling with the strap of his backpack with his free hand. He was a former employee of the applied sciences division, apparently. He was a bioengineer and QC fired him because the projects he suggested were dangerous. It ruined his life, apparently.

And that was why he was going to ruin Oliver’s life.

Oliver tried saying something, but the guy didn’t let him, shooting a bullet at Oliver’s legs. It didn’t hit him, but it did cause him to take a step to the side.

So when the guy pulled another gun from his back pocket, that Felicity vaguely realized was connected to something in his backpack, when he took another step forward and fired, Felicity was hit first. But it wasn’t a bullet, she was hit by a light blue… goo.

The spray was powerful, and in a matter of seconds, Oliver and Felicity were both soaked. She managed to cover her face, so it didn’t get in her mouth or nose, but the substance was dripping from her body. She was too shocked to move.

‘What is this?’, Oliver growled when the man stopped the liquid flow.

‘Poisonous’, he grinned.

Diggle ran inside the office, then, gun drawn. He ordered the guy to put down his gun, but he didn’t listen. He turned, intent on shooting Digg, but John shot him in the leg first.

The guy fell to the ground, whimpering in pain, and Digg took a step closer.

‘Stop’, Felicity yelled, even though she didn’t manage to move. ‘Don’t come in, we don’t know what it is.’

Digg stopped, but he didn’t take his eyes off the guy. ‘The police are on their way.’

‘Call them back’, Felicity wheezed out. ‘Tell them to get hazmat suits. And a biohazard team.’

Digg nodded, and pulled out his phone.

Felicity turned towards Oliver, then, and he was already looking at her.

‘Everything’s going to be fine’, he said, with conviction.

She snorted. ‘It’s hard to believe anything you’re saying when you’re covered in blue goo.’

Oliver glared, but he did sigh and nod.

»

When the cops got there, everything turned to chaos. The building was evacuated, John being forced to leave, and the guy was handcuffed and rushed out to an ambulance. There were a lot of people running around, building something in the hallway, Felicity had no idea what. There were three people taking samples of the substance, everybody was yelling and everybody was in biohazard suits. It was very disturbing.

And Felicity and Oliver were just standing there. Nobody paid them attention, and Felicity wanted to cry. She whimpered before she could control herself, and Oliver was by her side in an instant. He wanted to hug her, clearly, but he hesitated because of the substance they were covered it. In the end, he settled for taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. Even that small contact helped Felicity.

‘You can take off the masks!’, someone yelled, and when Felicity turned her head, she saw a tall woman making her way inside the office. She still had a suit on, but not the mask.

‘It’s not contagious’, she explained as she walked towards Felicity and Oliver. ‘Don’t touch it, though, we don’t know exactly what it does.’

When she got in front of them, she smiled and lowered her voice to a normal level. ‘Hello, Ms. Smoak, Mr. Queen. Everything will be alright.’

She didn’t continue, so Oliver growled an impatient ‘Well?’

‘My name is Catherine, I’m here to take care of you.’

‘How?’, Oliver insisted, no kindness seeping through in his tone.

‘Directing you to the showers, for one. Please follow me.’

She didn’t wait for a response, she just started walking. Felicity didn’t even think, following her immediately, dragging Oliver along. Catherine started talking again.

‘The perpetrator had some files on him, explaining the substance. We know it’s not contagious, but we don’t know what it does. Not yet, but our best biochemists are working on it, I assure you.’

‘We have friends at Star Labs’, Felicity said. ‘If they need help.’

Catherine turned around and smiled at her. ‘Let’s get you cleaned up, we’ll deal with that after, okay?’

Felicity realized that they were in the bathroom, down the hall from Oliver’s office. It was a big bathroom, but now there wasn’t any space to move around it anymore, because there were two military showers fitted in the center. With white thin walls that barely passed up Felicity’s chest, with a metal tray underneath, with shower heads that were directly connected to a big canister.

‘What.’, Oliver growled.

‘You have to shower’, Catherine said, sympathetically. ‘Chemically.’

‘Oh god’, Felicity wheezed out, weekly, gripping Oliver’s hand tighter.

‘You can throw your clothes over there’, Catherine said, sweetly, pointing to a garbage bin labeled _biohazard_.

Felicity gasped and took her hand out of Oliver’s hand.

He just raised an eyebrow. ‘Now is not the time for modesty.’ He started unbuttoning his suit jacket, but he spared a look towards Catherine. ‘Or shameless flirting.’

‘Oh, rest assured Mr. Queen’, she fluttered her eyelashes, ‘were I in the mood for that, my flirtations would not have been directed towards you.’

Felicity groaned. But she did start undressing, with rather violent movements, as she spoke.

‘Not that I’m not flattered, believe me I am, but what is it with me and lesbians? Honestly now, last night, I was in Verdant for 30 minutes, at the bar with Sara. Four lesbians hit on me. Four! Even Sara was baffled. And again, don’t get me wrong, the attention is nice, and it does make me feel good, of course it does, I appreciate it and I’m flattered. But why couldn’t a nice guy notice me? Why?’

When she looked up after her rant, she was down to her panties and bra, Catherine was giggling under her breath and Oliver was staring. His chest was bare, he was half way through unzipping his pants, but he froze, staring straight at Felicity’s breasts.

She flushed a deep scarlet, and swallowed thickly, but her voice didn’t break.

‘Oliver, now is not the same for shameless flirting.’

His head snapped up and his ears turned red, but he nodded and took off his pants. Felicity sighed and turned back around to Christine.

‘Do I have to?’, she whined.

‘Yes.’, the woman raised an eyebrow. ‘I understand that it’s awkward, but for your safety, get naked and get in there.’

Felicity took a few more seconds, but in the end she nodded and took a deep breath. She turned her back towards Oliver, took off her bra and her panties, and she made sure not to look at him as she made her way into the shower. She waited a couple of seconds, with her head bending back and looking straight at the ceiling, but Oliver followed her quickly, taking the other stall.

‘Okay then’, Christine said. ‘Wash up. Everything, including your hair’, she pointed a look at Felicity, who promptly took out her hair tie. ‘And try not to swallow too much water.’

Felicity shared a look with Oliver, who was very pointedly looking at her face. She knew he could see everything if he looked down, the delimitations between the stalls didn’t really hide anything. She was blushing furiously, she knew she was, but Felicity was very grateful that Oliver tried his best not to look. So she smiled at him and turned on the shower.

It was cold. And it smelled horrible. Felicity groaned, but did her best to wash down all the goo.

15 minutes later, Catherine told them that they were clean enough. As they shut off the water, she handed them each a bottle of what looked like cooking oil.

‘Soak your skin in that. It’s hydrating oil, all natural.’

‘My skin does fell like it’s cracking’, Felicity looked down at the skin on her arms.

‘It’s the chemicals.’, Catherine explained. ‘Use the oil for 45 minutes, take another shower and you’ll be good as new.’

‘They never do that in CSI’, Felicity mumbled under her breath, making the other woman snort.

‘You get special treatment.’, she raised an eyebrow at Oliver.

‘Of course’, Felicity muttered, but she did start rubbing the oil onto her skin.

When she was done, she looked down at herself in confusion. The oil made her skin extra slippery. And she couldn’t remember if she had a spare of clothes in her car.

‘What now?’, Oliver asked, reading her mind.

Catherine just shrugged and handed them each a big white towel. When both of them stared at the towels, she sighed and shook her head.

‘Now you put these on, go home, let the oil sit on your skin for a while, then you take a long shower and drink a beer, maybe eat a pizza, and chill for the rest of the evening. And in the morning you’ll be scheduled for a full set of tests.’

‘This is the worst day ever’, Felicity sighed, but grabbed the towel and began wrapping herself in it.

‘Weren’t you like…’, Catherine narrowed her eyes, ‘kidnapped several times? And saved by the Arrow?’

‘The worst’, Felicity nodded, making the other woman frown, but Oliver chuckled.

‘So we can leave?’, Oliver asked, stepping out of the stall.

‘Yes’, Catherine nodded. ‘Your head of security, Mr. Diggle, said he’d stay behind to make sure everything is sorted. He’ll keep you updated.’

‘Can I get my bag, please?’, Felicity said, still struggling with her towel. ‘My car keys are there. And my phone. It’s by my desk.’

‘I’ll get it for you’, Catherine smiled.

After she left, Felicity took a few more seconds securing the towel around her body before coming out of the stall.

‘Are you driving?’, Oliver raised an eyebrow, once again looking straight in her eyes.

‘Yeah’, she sighed. ‘You’re still banned from my Mini.’

Oliver smirked. It gave Felicity a push, and she risked dragging her eyes down his body. His towel was wrapped around his waist, but he still held it up with one hand. Oliver’s body didn’t surprise her anymore, she saw it time and time again, stitching him up. But this was a whole new level.

‘I have to say’, she shook her head, ‘never in my wildest dreams had I thought about being barefoot in the office, soaking in oil, covered in a surprisingly soft towel, with my boss by my side.’

Oliver snorted. ‘Partner, not boss. I’m your partner.’

She smiled and nodded, straightening her back before making her way out of the bathroom. Slowly.

»

It took them 5 minutes to get to the elevator. The hallway was 30 feet long.

Thankfully, her car was in the underground parking lot, so they wouldn’t have to make their way through the press. That would have been incredibly bad, seeing Oliver Queen and his EA walking around town in towels, no matter how good of an excuse they had. Things were still touch-and-go, even after Oliver got his company back, they still had to be careful.

They rode the elevator in silence, and when it came to a stop on the parking lot floor, Oliver gestured for Felicity to get out first. He always did that, like a true gentleman, and he always followed her out with a hand on her lower back, gently guiding her.

This time, however, Oliver tripped over the threshold of the elevator. So, instinctually, he grabbed on to the closest thing. Which, considering his hand was on Felicity’s back, he grabbed onto Felicity’s towel.

She screamed. But, somehow, she managed to hold onto her towel. And Oliver must have realized quickly what he was doing, because he didn’t drag her towel down.

He did, however, fall. Right on his ass, Felicity thought, judging by the sounds he made and the way he grunted.

‘Are you hurt?’, she asked, not turning around.

Oliver grunted, but she knew he meant it as a ‘no’.

‘I’d offer a hand’, Felicity shrugged, ‘but I’m pretty sure your towel isn’t covering Oliver Jr. at the moment, and I’d rather not have yet another traumatic experience on this day.’

There was silence.

‘I don’t even know where to begin with that sentence’, Oliver finally said.

‘How about you don’t begin at all?’, Felicity asked, hopefully. ‘And focus your energy on getting up?’

Ten seconds later, there was a hand on her lower back and Oliver was by her side again. ‘Let’s not mention that.’, he grunted. ‘To anybody. Ever.’

Felicity giggled.

»

‘Are you freaking kidding me?’, she hissed 10 minutes later.

‘You better pull over’, Oliver winced, not taking his eyes off the police car that was blaring its sirens behind them.

Felicity did just that, taking deep breaths and trying to keep her nerves to a minimum. Most of the anger disappeared, though, when she saw Officer Lance getting out of the car.

She was talking before he reached the door.

‘Seriously, Mr. Lance. I’m going 30, I’ve been held by gun point this morning, soaked in god knows what blue goo, I’m not wearing shoes, I’m covered in oil and just a towel, so my upholstery is probably getting violated right now. I just want to go home’, she whined, finally looking up at Lance, who was watching her with a very kind expression.

‘You weren’t answering your phone’, is what he said. ‘I stopped you to ask where you two were going, so I can send a few guys around.’

‘Is that necessary?’, Felicity frowned.

‘Just to make sure the douchebag didn’t have friends’, Lance nodded.

‘I only have one shower’, Oliver said, making her jump in her seat. He still hasn’t moved back to the mansion, and Felicity isn’t sure he ever will, and he doesn’t like spending a lot of time in the one bedroom apartment he rented downtown.

She sighed and turned back to Lance. ‘My place. Thank you.’           

‘Drive safe’, he smiled one more time at her, glared a bit at Oliver, and went back to his car.

»

It took a lot of time to get from her car to her house, but thankfully neither of them fell again. She took the bathroom in her bedroom, and directed Oliver to the smaller one in the guest room.

Felicity felt a billion times better when she came out of the shower. She made sure to use a ton of conditioner, and she scrubbed her whole body down three times. Before going out into her bedroom again, she used her favorite hydrating cream all over her body.

She felt human again, so she was smiling when she came out of the bathroom, wrapped in her fluffy pink towel. Felicity put on her pajamas quickly, and she was braiding her hair when Oliver knocked on her door.

 ‘I don’t have any clothes.’

Felicity winced. ‘Should’ve thought of that before, yes.’ She made her way to her dresser and crouched down to the last drawer. It took some searching, but she managed to find an ex-boyfriend’s pair of sweatpants. She also took one of her generic MIT t-shirts and because her eyes landed on it, she handed Oliver a body lotion too when she opened her door.

He scrunched up his nose. It looked pretty ridiculous, considering he had a pink towel wrapped around his waist.

‘I know’, she snickered, ‘it isn’t very manly, but your skin has been through a lot and you should take care of it.’

Oliver blinked. ‘I don’t care.’

‘Yeah well’, Felicity puffed. ‘Your future girlfriend might.’

He raised an eyebrow and gave her a look. A look she didn’t want to think about right then, so she sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling him inside her bedroom.

‘Use to lotion. Get dressed. I’ll make coffee.’

»

When Oliver came into the kitchen, he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt, just the sweats, and his whole torso was glistening.  He also had a very betrayed look in his eyes, completed with his adorable pout.

‘Uh’, Felicity blinked, staring at his chest. ‘Did you use the whole bottle?’

‘No’, Oliver frowned. ‘It doesn’t go away. Wasn’t this stuff supposed to go away?’

‘Soak in’, she nodded. ‘Your skin is supposed to soak it in.’

‘It’s not doing that’.

Felicity snorted. ‘Clearly.’

‘Can I wash it off?’, Oliver tried.

‘Not really. ‘, she shook her head. ‘Keep rubbing it in.’

And then, Oliver sighed, dramatically, and moved to her table, leaning against it. He started by rubbing his arms, slowly, but Felicity could see that he was applying some pressure, considering the way his muscles flexed under his touch. His palms then went up his shoulder to his neck, and then he slowly lowered them to his chest and down his abs, stopping just above the waistband.

‘Are you going stand there and stare’, his whisper completely startled Felicity, who didn’t even realize she was looking so intently, ‘or are you going to help me do my back?’

When she looked up to his face, Oliver was smiling softly.

‘I, uh…’, she didn’t really manage to finish that sentence.

Oliver nodded, understandingly, even if it was clear that he was amused. He took the few steps that were between them, smiling all the while. He kissed her forehead and grabbed her hand, silently guiding her to her bedroom.

‘What are you doing?’, Felicity asked half way through, but he didn’t answer, just smiled back at her and winked.

In her bedroom, he all but collapsed on the bed, on his front, bending his arms under the pillow and sighing contently.

‘Seriously?’, Felicity felt the need to ask.

‘It’s your lotion’, he said, voice muffled by the pillow. ‘You fix it.’

Felicity sighed, but made her way around the bed, so that she could stay on his other side. She crossed her legs and started rubbing the lotion into Oliver’s back. Her cheeks were burning, and her heart was beating incredibly fast, because she has never touched Oliver like this. Her brain was fizzling, and she had no idea what will happen when she’ll stop.

But when she did stop, Oliver was asleep. Felicity decided she’d let him nap for a bit, the smell of freshly made coffee calling her back in the kitchen. But then Oliver started snoring, a bit, and all Felicity could do was lie down next to him and cover them with her comforter.

»

The next day in the lair (because QC was still closed for cleanup), Roy didn’t stop making bad puns.

‘So, I heard you two were in a sticky situation yesterday.’

‘You know, just once in a blue moon I’d wish you’d stay out of trouble.’

‘Blondie, do you need the number of a plumber or are your pipes still working?’

‘Do you listen to a lot of… Chemical Brothers?’

‘So if Felicity’s Bubbles, Oliver’s Buttercup, and the dude’s professor X, then who’s Blossom?’

‘I really hope Felicity doesn’t turn into Rogue. Don’t get me wrong, X-Men is awesome, but Rogue’s power’s a bitch.’

When the day was over, Oliver was one pun away from killing Roy, and Felicity was one pun away from kissing Roy, because she didn’t remember when was the last time she laughed so hard.

»

Three hours later, Oliver was standing on her doorstep in sweatpants and a soft t-shirt, holding a bottle of wine and asking for another massage.

After drinking the wine, they didn’t actually get to the massage, because they got carried away with the kissing.

Still, it didn’t stop Felicity from calling Roy at 4 am, asking if he has Mario’s number, because her pipes do need some cleaning.


	69. Bonnie vs. Clyde

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [makepatronusesnothorcruxes](http://makepatronusesnothorcruxes.tumblr.com/) asked: _Oliver and Felicity are actors who play each others love interests on a TV show. They hate each other. Or do they?_  
>  Anon asked: _Are you still accepting prompts? If so an Olicity AU: Bonnie & Clyde_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, sorry, I haven't actually seen Bonnie and Clyde. So uhm. That's not a big part of the story. Sorry?

It took a very long time for Felicity to get here.

Well, technically it was only a couple of months, but it felt like a lot longer.

∆

 

After she finished Film School, Felicity Smoak got a job at a dog pound. She mended the reception, did secretary work, looked after the dogs when needed, and a lot of other things that had no connection to acting.

She did act, though. An episode of CSI, a couple of episodes in a vampire flick, some secondary roles in tv movies and so on. Her biggest role yet was a side-character in an Avenger film. It wasn’t much, 10 minutes on screen that ended with her death, but she got to work with a couple of the main actors in the film, and even if she was on set for only a week, she learned a lot in that time. When Joss Whedon himself took her to the side and gave her some advice, Felicity took everything he said as law.

So when her agent called her to tell her he booked an audition for her, in an untitled Joss Whedon project, Felicity was very excited. She thought that he remembered her, but her agent assured her that he didn’t, that she got the audition because she was blonde and not that tall, and that was what the character needed.

The audition went well. Whedon wasn’t there, it was just the casting crew, but she spent a good 20 minutes reading several different scenes with them. She had no idea what the film was, though, because the names were erased from the scripts.

A week later, she got a call back. Felicity was equally excited and nervous.

∆

When she walked into the room, Felicity yelped out loud when she saw Joss Whedon sitting at the table, surrounded by the casting crew she was already familiar with. He recognized her, surprisingly, and laughed at her reaction.

Felicity spent the next 10 minutes listening to him explain the film. It wasn’t a Marvel movie, but a Bonnie and Clyde remake, of sorts. Set in the modern days, Bonnie was a hacker and Clyde was ex-military. They come together because of a series of unfortunate events, and while they’re running together, pulling jobs and evading the police, they slowly fall in love.

Joss stopped talking when the door opened and Oliver Queen stumbled in. Felicity stopped breathing when she realized that she’ll be reading with him, that he’ll be playing Clyde.

∆

Everybody knew who Oliver Queen was. He’s been acting since he was 10, winning his first Oscar at 25. He was a name in the industry, and a favorite of the paparazzi. Even though he was pretty wild in his teenage years, after a few bad relationships that exploded in the public eye, he calmed down.

Now, in interviews, he’d always say that he’s looking for the one, for the love of his life that’s willing to spend the rest of her life with him.

After Felicity managed to pick her jaw off the floor, Joss introduced them.

‘I’m a fan of your work’, she smiled, shaking Oliver’s hand. ‘You probably hear that a lot’, she blushed.

‘Well’, he smirked. ‘I do, but very few people actually mean it’.

‘Understandable’, Felicity sat back in her chair, and instantly started babbling. ‘And that’s a shame, because honestly, I wrote an essay in collage about how important _The Third Door*_ was and-‘

‘You watched that?’, Oliver frowned. ‘I was in high school when I did that, in the director’s back yard. It barely got any profit.’

‘Well, yeah’, Felicity blinked, ‘but it still got three awards at Sundance. And it revolutionized the way actors saw playing a queer character. It was very important for the industry at the moment, and it made a lot of people feel more comfortable in accepting these roles.’

‘And you wrote an essay on it.’, Oliver was still frowning.

Felicity blushed, again, but she nodded. ‘We were supposed to write about a ground-breaking film. Everybody else in my class wrote about the Lumière brothers, or Chaplin, or about Avatar. I wrote a 30 page paper on _The Third Door_ and the professor made us all watch it the next day.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything, turning to Joss.

‘She talks a lot’, he smiled.

‘I babble’, she blushed and lowered her head. ‘I’m sorry’.

‘Oh no!’, Joss was quick to reassure her. ‘Don’t be sorry. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with you on set last time, but when I saw your audition tape from last week, I recognized you and I called Chris Evans.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped.

‘You were in Avengers?’, Oliver asked her.

‘Yeah’, she nodded. ‘Died after 10 minutes. ‘

‘Sorry about that’, Joss grinned. ‘Still, most of your scenes were with Chris and he told me you were very entertaining.’

Felicity was blushing so hard, she was sure she was as red as a lobster. It made Oliver grin.

‘Not like that’, Joss scoffed, throwing a piece of paper at Oliver’s head. ‘Chris said that he liked the babble. That no matter how tired he was, Felicity managed to lift up his morale.’

‘I’m sure that’s not the only thing she lifted’, Oliver smirked, giving her an obvious once-over.

It made Felicity’s blood boil. She tried not to respond, but keeping quiet wasn’t her best quality. At all.

So she smiled at Oliver, and leaned back in her chair. ‘Just because you have a problem, that doesn’t mean all men do.’

‘Oh, I don’t have a problem’, Oliver responded instantly. ‘But I wouldn’t mind having a problem, if that meant I get to have you.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped, again.

‘Jesus’, she breathed out. ‘Either you’re a massive asshole, or you seriously don’t know absolutely nothing about flirting.’

‘I know how to flirt’, he smirked again.

‘Yeah, sure, okay. That, however, was not flirting. That was rude and disrespectful.’

Oliver shrugged. ‘Are you feeling threatened?’

‘No’, Felicity scoffed. ‘Of course not. I’d have you on the floor with a bleeding nose in 10 seconds. That, however, shouldn’t happen, considering I’m here for an audition.’

‘You think you’ll still get the role if you give me a bloody nose?’, Oliver raised an eyebrow.

Felicity speared a glance as Joss, who was watching the scene with interest. He didn’t seem to be mad, though, so she went on.

‘No, I think I’ll still get the role if I’m good enough and fit for it, because Joss is smarter than choosing his lead actress by how well she’ll sleep with him or with her co-star.’

‘So you’ll sleep with me?’, Oliver grinned.

‘You seriously seemed smarter in your interviews. Are you drunk?’

‘Yes’, he nodded, unperturbed.

‘Wow. Just… wow.’, Felicity breathed out, turning to Joss.

‘I like you’, he said. ‘Think you could manage working with him?’

‘Is he gonna be drunk all the time?’

‘No’, Oliver answered in a straight tone. ‘It’s just my father’s death anniversary today, I’ll be over it by the time we start filming.’

Felicity blinked, dread pooling in her gut. She snapped out of her shock and reached into her bag, wordlessly pulling out a bottle of water and an Advil.

Oliver took them with a very confused expression.

‘I’m sorry’, Felicity said, finally. ‘But that’s not an excuse to act like a jerk towards a stranger in a working environment. It’s a reason, but not an excuse.’

‘It would’ve been fine if you didn’t start babbling.’

Felicity snorted. ‘So we’ll get along if I keep my mouth shut?’

‘Probably’, Oliver shrugged.

‘That’s not gonna happen’, Felicity told Joss.

‘I get that, yeah. Let’s just read for a while, okay?’, the director smiled at her. ‘You don’t have the job yet, Miss Smoak.’

‘Obviously’, Oliver puffed.

Felicity shrugged, took a deep breath, and did her best.

∆

The audition went incredibly well. The moment they turned the camera on, the moment she blinked and found herself in character, everything went brilliantly.

Felicity had chemistry with Oliver. A lot of it.

The first scene they did was the one when Bonnie and Clyde met, and Felicity actually had fun reading it. Then, they did a random scene where she was hacking into the FBI database, and Oliver was teasing and flirting with her.

In the end, Joss insisted they’d read another scene. The casting crew weren’t prepared for that, so Felicity and Oliver read the lines straight from Joss’ laptop. They were fighting, about something. Felicity didn’t understand a lot, having not read all the script, but Joss told her that Bonny was already in love with Clyde by this point, but she was denying it.

When they were done reading, there was silence in the room for a couple of seconds. The casting guys were staring at them, Joss was grinning like a mad man and Oliver was frowning down at his hands.

‘That was better than I expected’, he said.

Felicity smiled, politely. ‘Thank you. You should’ve waited till I left the room, though, before telling your director that’.

Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘You’re not the boss of me.’

‘Thankfully’, she muttered under her breath, but Joss still heard her, judging by the way he was smirking.

∆

The audition was more than a year ago.

She got the role, and they have been filming for four months.

Everybody was stressed. This was Joss’ pet project, he had the script written for years, but it took him a very long time to find funding for it. And, beyond that, it was very close to his heart.

So everybody was giving 110%, making sure everything was as Joss wanted it.

But the media didn’t know that. The media just knew that someone dared to remake such an important classic. They didn’t like that.

They liked that it was Joss who was doing it. They liked that Oliver was playing Clyde. They didn’t like that Felicity was playing Bonnie, because nobody heard of Felicity.

It was all very stressful.

Oliver wasn’t helping.

Like at the audition, they had immense chemistry together. The moment the camera turned on, they _were_ Bonnie and Clyde. Every scene went perfectly. No matter what it was, talking, running, fight scene, hacking, flirting. It all went well and Joss started calling them _my Bonnie_ and _my Clyde_ two weeks into filming.

Felicity understood Bonnie very well. She found it easy to relate to her, for some reason. She understood why she did the things she did, why she acted the way she did, and she was sure Oliver felt the same way about Clyde.

But when the camera cut off, when Felicity and Oliver were back, they were also back in the middle of a petty child’s war.

∆

At first, Oliver tried flirting with Felicity. She didn’t let him. So when he understood that that was not the way to approach her, he started teasing. It quickly grew into full on making fun of her, but Felicity still didn’t back down. She responded in the exactly same manner.

As the days passed, the banter only got worse between the two of them. Hurtful, even. They’d trade insults, and even though it was all done in a playful tone, they’d both hit touchy subjects every now and then. Felicity always realized when she did it, by the way Oliver would clench his right fist. And whenever Oliver did it to her, she’d flinch hard and look away. It didn’t stop the banter, but they’d both make sure to change topics.

It was childish. And weird. They hated each other, Felicity thought. But as she thought of it, she realized that it wasn’t true. Yes, they’d fight, always, but they were respectful, in a way. And there were a few moments when it was clear that ‘hateful’ was not really the best word to describe their relationship.

∆

For example, Felicity remembered the exact day of her first read-through with Oliver. So when the date came around, she found herself early on set, waiting for him to arrive.

‘Are you drunk?’, she asked him softly, making sure nobody was around to hear her. Oliver startled and looked at her with confusion. But then his features cleared, probably remembering what had happened the year before, and he sighed.

‘No, I’m not. I’m fine.’

And that was it. But Felicity arranged that they’d all go out for dinner and drinks that night. The cast did that from time to time, because they all got along well. Most of them found it entertaining, the war between Felicity and Oliver, so nobody realized something was wrong. Except for Joss, who narrowed his eyes at her when he accepted her invitation. But he didn’t say anything, and neither did Oliver.

For most of the night, he didn’t speak to her, at all, and that was an improvement, Felicity thought, because it meant that there were no insults. When they left, though, Oliver waited with her for a cab, keeping his hand on her lower back. They stood in silence, but after Felicity got in the car, Oliver held the door open for another few seconds.

‘Thank you’, was all he said. Felicity smiled and shook her head.

‘Sleep well, Oliver. Big day tomorrow.’

∆

Once, they were in the makeup trailer. Just the two of them, waiting for the special FX makeup on their skin to dry. The makeup crew left them alone, and the second they closed the door behind them, Oliver smirked and started talking.

‘I couldn’t help but notice how the girls are always telling you how to put on makeup. What, didn’t your mother teach you that?’

Felicity flinched and looked away, resuming her Candy Crush game. Still, she took a deep breath and answered him.

‘No, she didn’t. Even if she wanted to do that, I really didn’t want her to, considering she’s a cocktail waitress in Vegas and she usually looks like a drag queen.’

Oliver was silent for a few moments, and she didn’t look at him, but when he spoke, his voice was softer and filled with concern.

‘Is that why she never visits you on set?’

‘No’, Felicity shook her head, laughing bitterly. ‘She never visits me on set because she always blamed me for my father leaving us, and when it was legal enough, she washed her hands of me.’

‘I’m sorry’, Oliver breathed out, tentatively putting a hand on her shoulder. Felicity didn’t bat it away, but she still didn’t look at him.

‘Don’t be. The last thing I want from you, or anybody for that matter, is pity. I’m here, and she’s probably jealous, so I’m fine.’

Oliver didn’t say another word about it, but he did squeeze her shoulder before taking his hand away.

∆

Things got particularly weird between them one night, when part of the cast was hanging out in Oliver’s backyard. He had a massive house in the outskirts of Vancouver (where they were filming), complete with a pool, a jacuzzi, a grill, and a big garden that had direct access to the forest.

Felicity was on the porch swing, with Sara and Roy next to her, while Oliver and Diggle were mending the grill. The girls were a bit tipsy, having somehow drank a whole bottle of wine between the two of them, and Roy was clearly taking advantage.

‘Are you telling me’, he glared at Felicity, ‘that you wouldn’t sleep with anybody from the set? Anybody? Actor, crew, whatever?’

‘Nope’, she shrugged.

‘I don’t believe that’, Roy shook his head, turning to Sara. ‘What about you?’

‘Cassie from makeup’, Sara sighed, dreamily. ‘And Felicity, if she were willing.’

Felicity chuckled, as the other women snuggled up to her. Felicity let her, putting a hand over Sara’s shoulder and petting her hair.

‘Sorry babe’, Felicity giggled. ‘I would, if I wasn’t completely and utterly straight.’

‘I’ll believe it when I’ll see it’, Oliver said, making his way towards the group with plates of food.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’, Felicity frowned.

‘That I have known you for a year, and I have never seen you with a guy. Hell, I didn’t even hear you talking about a guy.’

‘Why would I talk to you about boys?’

Oliver shrugged.

‘No, tell me’, Felicity insisted. ‘Why would I talk to you about boys?’

‘Because I’d listen.’

That made Felicity pause. She blinked a couple of times, and stared at Oliver.

‘Why?’, is what she managed to ask, in a small voice.

‘I always listen to you’, Oliver frowned down at her.

And really, Felicity had no answer to that, because she knew it was the truth. That particular realization made her shut her mouth with a pop.

‘I think’, Sara interrupted the silence, ‘that Felicity would sleep with Oliver, if given the chance.’

‘Everybody would sleep with me if given the chance’, Oliver replied with a proud grin on his face.

‘No’, Felicity shook her head.

‘Hell no’, Diggle added, making everyone laugh.

∆

Things between Felicity and Oliver changed from that day on, and Felicity had no idea what to do about it.

They still fought, they still bantered and insulted each other, but it wasn’t as harsh as before. This, this was fun, Felicity was having fun with Oliver.

∆

They spent more time together, just the two of them. It always started as rehearsing lines, but more often than not, it ended with coffee or lunch. Their trainer started training them both in Oliver’s gym, most of the times finishing their workout with a few lengths of the pool.

∆

One time, she was so exhausted, she fell asleep on Oliver’s couch. Sara and Diggle were there too, but they left, having decided to let Felicity sleep. She woke up in Oliver’s bed, with him sleeping on the couch. He didn’t stop teasing her for a week.

∆

Every other day, he’d bring her a Starbucks cup. Always with a different name on the cup, always a celebrity blonde. On the days they had to shoot something more energy consuming, like a fight scene, Oliver would get her an extra chocolate pump, and an extra espresso one. On those days, Felicity would get them cupcakes, and hide them in her trailer until lunch time.

∆

The way they trained changed too, and their trainer noticed it. Usually, when there was a fight sequence, they wouldn’t have to do a lot of the choreography together. But there were a few scenes towards the end of the movie that involved a lot of working together on their part. And as they trained for it, there was no hesitation anymore.

Oliver didn’t hesitate in touching her during training, he pushed and pulled, touched her stomach and her thighs without batting an eye. Before, he would keep back, visibly, but Felicity never said a word, because she did the same. Now, though, neither of them had a problem with that.

Their trainer noticed, and so did Joss. He thought they were doing it because Bonny and Clyde would have spent a lot of time together by now, that their relationship had evolved and the two fugitives would have grown comfortable around one another.

Neither Felicity nor Oliver found it in themselves to disagree.

∆

When Felicity’s mother called her, she was at Oliver’s place, wrapping up a training session. It was close to 3 am and even though Oliver offered his guest room, Felicity was set on driving back to her apartment.

But after the discussion with her mother, she didn’t leave anymore. Oliver didn’t say anything, didn’t ask for an explanation when Felicity came back from the garage with tears in her eyes. He only asked her if she was physically hurt, if she needed a hospital. But Felicity still told him. 

She told Oliver that she didn’t speak with her mother since she was 18, that the woman was only calling now because she found out Felicity made it as an actress.

Oliver looked at her with wild eyes for a couple of seconds, but then he grabbed her hand and directed her to the couch. He came back a few minutes later with a pack of tissues, icecream and a bottle of vodka. Then, he told Felicity that his father died thinking that becoming an actor was the stupidest thing Oliver ever did.

They didn’t speak much that night.  They just drank a lot of vodka and ate way too much icecream, and spent the next couple of hours watching Oliver’s South Park DVDs.

When in the morning, Felicity once again arrived on set wearing Oliver’s clothes, but with an extra in the shape of very dark bags under her eyes, Sara cornered her.

‘Have you and Oliver finally hooked up?’

‘Finally?’, Felicity shrieked. ‘No, no, we have not. He was just… We were uhm… I….’

Sara’s eyes grew wider upon seeing her hesitation.

‘I had an awful night’, Felicity finally amended. ‘Oliver was just… a friend when I needed one.’

Sara didn’t press after that.

∆

On the day they had to film the kissing scene, Felicity was very nervous. It wasn’t because she was going to kiss Oliver, not at all, it was because this was the most important scene in the movie. The way Joss put it, this scene was supposed to explain everything, it was supposed to make the viewer’s stomach flip and sell the whole movie.

Obviously, Felicity was very nervous, like never before. She had to deliver and it felt like the rest of her career will depend on this scene.

Of course, Oliver saw right through her. After they were done with the filming the last scene before the kissing one, he grabbed her hand and all but dragged her into his trailer, firmly shutting the door behind them.

‘I’m gonna need you to freak out now’, he said softly, directing her to the couch. ‘So you won’t freak out later.’

‘I’m not gonna freak out.’, Felicity tried.

‘You’re already freaking out.’, Oliver smiled. ‘Come on, tell me. Is it because you have to kiss me?’

Felicity shook her head, and it made him grin.

‘Then what?’

‘What if I screw up?’, she whispered, refusing to look at Oliver.

He sighed, and collapsed beside her on the couch. He put a hand around her shoulders and pulled her in, till their sides were pressed from shoulders to knees and his nose was in her hair.

‘There’s a reason Joss calls you _his Bonnie_.’, Oliver started, confidently. ‘So, do you understand why she loves Clyde?’

‘Yes’, Felicity didn’t hesitate in nodding.

‘And do you understand why she was denying it till now?’

‘Of course.’

‘And do you understand why she can’t deny it anymore?’

‘Yes, Oliver.’, she sighed.

‘Then you’ll do fine’, he finally smiled. ‘You’ll do more than fine, you’ll do exceptional.’

‘No pressure, then.’, Felicity pouted, making him chuckle.

‘You’re always exceptional’, he smiled, running his hand down her back. ‘So, no, absolutely no pressure.’

Felicity sighed, but there was a smile playing on her lips. She bent forward, escaping from Oliver’s hold, but she didn’t get up from the couch.

Oliver chuckled again, and all but smashed his cheek against her shoulder.

‘Do you want to rehearse the lines again?’, he asked, voice muffled against her shirt.

‘No, we got them.’

He hummed. ‘Do you want to rehearse the kiss?’

Felicity snorted. ‘I think we can handle that too.’

‘Okay’, Oliver said around a yawn. Then he all but manhandled Felicity, until her body was pressed against the armrest of the couch, until her legs were resting on the coffee table and until her hands were in his hair, where he rested his head in her lap.

‘Nap time.’

‘Are you for real right now?’, Felicity groaned.

But when Oliver growled in distress, her fingers started moving in his hair before she could understand what was happening.

Felicity’s makeup artist woke them up a while later, and she didn’t even bat an eye.

∆

For this scene, they were in a hotel room.

Bonnie just came out of the shower, so she was wearing minimal makeup (just to make Felicity look good on camera), her hair was wet and falling down her shoulders, and she was wrapped up in a big fluffy towel. She had panties and a strapless bra underneath that, but the viewers won’t be able to see that.

Clyde was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a tank top, and his face and arms were bruised and scraped.

They were sitting next to each other on the end of the bed, very little space between them. There were two cameras in front of them, one that was filming them from above, and one that was placed straight in front of their faces.

It was easier, from their point of view, because it meant they didn’t have to do the scene a million times, so they could film from different angles.

But Felicity was still shaking, slightly. She was going through the lines in her head, for what felt like the billionth time, and she wouldn’t have stopped if Oliver didn’t put a hand on her lower back.

When Joss yelled _action_ , Felicity blinked and found herself in Bonnie’s shoes.

‘I’m tired’, she sighed, looking down at her hands.

‘So you want out’, Clyde said in a strong voice.

She shook her head, still not looking at him.

‘I don’t want out, I want _us_ out.’

When he didn’t say anything, she continued. ‘We don’t need money anymore, we have enough. We could run away. Go to Aruba, or wherever. Start over.’

‘You want to go to Aruba with me?’, Clyde scoffed.

‘I want to go everywhere with you’, Bonnie breathed out, finally looking up at him.

‘I’m tired of pretending that I don’t, I’m tired of following you around like a blind puppy’, her breathing became heavier by this point and there were tears in her eyes. Her voice broke every other word, but she pushed through.

‘I do everything you ask of me, and I would do absolutely anything for you, but I can’t go on like this. I can’t, Clyde, I-‘, she started crying, properly, but she didn’t wipe away her tears and she didn’t take his eyes away from him.

Clyde was clenching his jaw and staring at her face. His eyes moved from hers, tracking down the tears on her face. He stopped and her lips and stared for a few moments.

‘This wasn’t supposed to happen’, Clyde said.

And that made Felicity pause, because that wasn’t the script. Joss was always encouraging them to improvise, but after they shot a take of the exact script.

Oliver wasn’t respecting the script.

‘This wasn’t supposed to happen’, he repeated, his voice a lot softer.

‘What wasn’t supposed to happen?’

He smiled, slightly, and put a hand over hers, intertwining their fingers and resting them on her bare leg. Then he closed his eyes and slowly, so slowly, rested his head on her shoulder, just like he did in his trailer an hour before. His stubble was scratching her skin and Felicity was convinced he could feel how fast her heart was beating.

But Joss wasn’t yelling _cut_.

‘What wasn’t supposed to happen, Clyde?’, she insisted, hoping that if Oliver heard his character’s name it would bring him back on the right trick.

He didn’t open his eyes, but he turned his head so he could press a soft kiss to her collarbone. Felicity shivered.

‘I wasn’t supposed to care so much about you’, he finally said, opening his eyes and looking up at her with a shy smile on his face.

Felicity has never seen Oliver being shy. And Bonnie has never seen Clyde being shy.

And Joss still wasn’t yelling _cut_.

So she did the only thing she could.

She kissed him.

But Felicity wasn’t sure. If she kissed Oliver, if Bonnie kissed Clyde. But the camera was still on, so she did her best.

It wasn’t hard. Kissing Oliver came very easily to her. It surprised her, of course, and her heart beat even faster. His fingers trailer over her chest, stopping at the edge of the towel she was wearing. He could probably feel her heart beat.

But his fingers didn’t stay there. Oliver moved them to her face, wiping down her tears. She whimpered when he pressed his thumb against her jaw, and that made him smile. He didn’t stop kissing her, though.

He put his other hand on her lower back and pulled her in, his fingers grabbing onto the towel. He bit on her lower lip, soothing the sting with his tongue immediately after, he groaned when Felicity scratched the back of his neck, and when she moved her leg a bit, that’s when he stopped kissing her.

But he didn’t move away too far, their lips were almost touching and their hands were still on each other.

And Joss still wasn’t yelling _cut_.

‘Felicity’, he breathed out, barely moving his lips.

She blinked and took a deep breath, realizing what him saying _her_ name meant.

‘Cut!’, Joss finally yelled, making his way towards them.

‘That was absolutely great, and I loved it, but maybe next time you could stick  to the script, okay?’

They didn’t turn to look at him. Felicity didn’t look away from Oliver, and he didn’t look away from her.

‘Uh…, guys?’, Joss tried again.

‘We’re gonna need a break’, Oliver said, slowly, still looking at Felicity.

‘Is everything okay?’, Joss asked, suspiciously.

‘Yes’, Felicity said, ‘We just need 5 minutes.’

‘10’, Oliver countered.

’10, okay’, she agreed.

Joss sighed, dramatically. Then, he yelled. ‘Everybody, take 10.’

Then he all but shoved Felicity and Oliver in the direction of the trailers, muttering about feelings and stubbornness.

∆

Once they made it into Oliver’s trailer, they didn’t talk. Much.

All he said was ‘I want you.’

‘That’s surprising’, Felicity breathed out. But then she closed the space between them and mouthed ‘me too’ against his lips.

∆

They used most of the first take in the film, even though they shot several takes after, respecting the script.

The film was a success. Joss got an Oscar nomination for his screenplay. He won.

Felicity and Oliver were there, clapping like maniacs when he stepped on the stage.

∆

Because Felicity and Oliver were a thing. A proper thing. She didn’t like saying that they were dating, but they were. It was more than that, though.

∆

After they wrapped filming, Felicity immediately got a role in a tv show, that made her move permanently to Vancouver. Oliver didn’t even mention it, he just handed her a set of keys to his house and told her he’ll transform one of the guest rooms into a dressing room for her.

∆

Felicity never felt as happy as she did when she was with Oliver. And the press loved them. Everybody knew the story of Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen, who played Bonnie and Clyde and fell in love in the process, even thought they were off to a rough start.

∆

On their one year anniversary, Felicity frames the movie poster and hangs it in their office. Over the years, they hang another 10 movies, all of them projects they did together.

∆

When they get married, Oliver starts his vows by saying _it wasn’t supposed to be like this_. Felicity starts hers by saying _it wasn’t supposed to be like this, but I am thankful it was._

∆

_*The Third Door: completely fictional film_


	70. Vegas, baby!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _AU where instead of felicity's mom being a cocktail waitress, she used to be a show girl in vegas, and how that might have rubbed off on/affected felicity:P_

Felicity always said things that made Oliver pause. Innuendos, bad jokes, unknown references. It wasn’t something that surprised him anymore, but recently, he has been paying more attention.

And some of the things Felicity said, they made Oliver’s mind spin.

→

When Felicity walked into the underground casino and she knew about pit bosses and other things, Oliver found it very weird. Later, he would find out that she grew up in Vegas, so it was understandable.

→

They were in the lair one day, when Roy randomly asked Felicity how she managed to wear high heels on a daily basis.

‘It’s a bitch’, Felicity agreed easily, ‘but it’s a tool of the trade.’

Oliver thought the phrasing was weird, but he didn’t ask.

→

When they discovered a mobster had his base of operations in a local strip club, Felicity immediately offered to go undercover, surprising all the men around her.

Oliver, of course, was quick to dismiss the plan. Diggle, ever tactful, told Felicity that they didn’t hire just anyone to be a stripper.

‘Obviously’, she rolled her eyes. ‘I can-‘

‘What about bartenders?’, Roy interrupted. ‘And waitresses? We could do that.’

Felicity wanted to say something, but she didn’t. In the end, she did get a job as a waitress, and Oliver was surprised by how she didn’t even bat an eye at all the half naked women and men around her.

He didn’t ask.

→

At the Verdant Halloween party, at which Thea blackmailed all of Team Arrow to show up, Felicity was dressed as Frank-n-Furter. Oliver’s throat was very dry for the entire evening. Especially when Felicity started dancing. She was on 5 inch heels and she was dancing better than most of the women in the club.

Oliver drank half a bottle of vodka by himself.

→

One early Saturday morning, he walked into the lair to find Felicity doing yoga.

‘That shouldn’t be possible’, he said before he could stop himself.

It made Felicity laugh, but she didn’t change her position. ‘Practice makes perfect, Oliver’, she snickered.

It made him blush.

→

When Felicity suggested a karaoke party to raise funds for his charity, Oliver thought she was insane. But he listened to her proposal, and her plan made sense, so of course he agreed to it.

People donated to get up on stage and sing. Oliver couldn’t believe it, but they were 2 hours in and they had already raised their goal.

But then, Felicity walked up on stage, followed closely by a giggling Thea.

They sang _They had it coming_ , from Chicago. Meaning that Felicity sang everything, and Thea was there for moral support and barely heard backing vocals. And Felicity absolutely aced it. She wasn’t just singing, even if she sang surprisingly well, but she was acting too.

It was… incredible. Oliver couldn’t look away, even if he tried to.

He wanted to ask, but when Felicity made his way to his side, laughing and giggling, he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth.

→

Oliver was making his rounds at Verdant one night, and he was aware that there was some sort of drag party happening, but he paid no mind to it. He wanted to get back downstairs as soon as possible, his muscles demanding a training session.

All thoughts of that flew out the window when he saw Felicity all but running to one of the drag queens, the main performer of the night, who had bright red hair and black painted lips. They hugged for a while, then did tequila shots at the bar.

At some point, Oliver decided to head over to Felicity and make sure she was okay. She started laughing when she saw him.

‘Have you met Ted?’, she pointed at the drag queen, earning herself a pinch of the ass from the man in question. ‘Sorry’, Felicity giggled, ‘I mean Mistique.’

Oliver didn’t say much. But Felicity seemed happy.

→

The last straw was the pole in Verdant.

There was only one now, backstage. Oliver had no idea why it was there, but one day he got a text from Roy, demanding his presence there asap.

When he got there, Felicity was on the pole. Doing… things. Oliver’s brain stopped working.

She was wearing leggings and a sports bra, her typical workout routine, and when Oliver stepped into the room, she was at the very top of the pole, hanging on by only the power of her thighs, feet crossed and staying perfectly horizontally. Felicity was talking, animatedly, explaining to Thea what she was doing, hands moving and pointing at the muscles in her thighs, her ass and Oliver…

Oliver felt very dizzy.

Roy wordlessly handed him a glass of vodka. He gladly accepted it, but didn’t take his eyes off Felicity.

She did a few other moves, more complicated, and she grinned at Oliver when she came back down on the floor.

‘I’m going to need an explanation’, he managed to wheeze out.

‘Mom’s a show girl’, she shrugged, looking down at the floor. ‘She thought I was going to walk in her shoes once I finished high school, so she taught me the tools of the trade.’

Oliver swallowed.

‘I knew how to walk in heels when I was 12’, she chuckled. ‘Makeup came when I was 13, the pole dancing when I was 16 and I’ve been singing since I was 10.’

There was silence.

‘I need some air’, Oliver wheezed out, grabbing a hold of Felicity’s hand and ignoring her protests as he dragged her outside.

He didn’t waste any time in pinning her against the wall of the alley, and she gasped, surprised, but it was gone quickly. She jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist and Oliver groaned. It made her kiss him harder.

When they pulled apart for air, Felicity was shaking her head.

‘Seriously?’, she wheezed out, incredulous. ‘That’s what it took? Pole dancing?’

‘No’, Oliver swallowed. ‘The pole dancing just convinced me to stop holding back.’

‘That’s awful’, Felicity said, gently slapping his chest. ‘How will I tell our grandchildren that? Oh, your grandpa fell in love with me because I could break a watermelon with my thighs.’

Oliver groaned again. ‘You can do that?’

Felicity grinned, cheekily, and squeezed her thighs harder around his waist.

‘That hurts’, Oliver wheezed out, in shock.

She just smirked and kissed him again.


	71. CODE RED: BABY!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [somethingsabihaish](http://somethingsabihaish.tumblr.com/)asked: _Felicity during her pregnancy and during labour! (Oliver being over protective and freaking out is an added bonus ^.^)_  
>  and  
> Anon asked: _I don't know where to submit prompts lol but can you do another pregnant olicity drabble? I fucking love those_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I'm not feeling the pregnant Felicity, lately. For some reason. Still. Enjoy?

‘ROY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S HAPPENING?’, Oliver roared over the comm. link. ‘THE C-SECTION IS SCHEDUELED FOR NEXT WEEK’.

‘I MEAN’, Roy yelled back, ‘THAT YOUR WIFE’S CONTRACTIONS ARE 20 MINUTES APART’.

‘IF YOU TWO DON’T STOP YELLING AT EACHOTHER’, Felicity screamed in a high pitched voice, ‘I AM GOING TO KILL YOU BOTH.’

Nobody said anything.

Felicity took a deep breath and got up from her chair. Roy was by her side instantly.

‘Oliver, everything is fine.’, she said calmly. ‘My water didn’t break yet, this might take a couple of more hours. Roy is going to be driving me to the hospital now, and you are going to meet us there. You’re closer to home than to the lair, so go change there.’

‘I’ll be there as soon as I can’, Oliver told her, voice soft.

‘Drive safe.’

‘Roy’, his voice dropped into a low growl, ‘if anything-‘

‘I know’, he interrupted, shaking his head. ‘If anything happens, they’ll never find my body. I know. Now shut up, take a deep breath, and get your ass to the hospital.’

He closed the comm. before Oliver could respond.

‘Awh!’, Felicity cooed, patting Roy’s cheek. ‘You stood up to him! That was adorable, he’s gonna kick your ass later.’

‘Blondie’, Roy whined. ‘Focus! You’re having a baby. Where’s your hospital bag?’

‘In the car’, Felicity shook her head to get her thoughts in check.

‘Purse?’

‘On the desk.’

‘Phone and ID in it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you need anything else from here?’

Felicity hesitated. ‘Can I get a hug?’

Roy snorted, but he gently put her arms around her shoulders, making sure not to bump her belly.

‘Everything is going to be fine’.

‘I know’, she nodded. When she pulled back, she grinned. ‘Operation Mini-Arrow is a go.’

⌂

Once they were in the car, Roy driving and Felicity in the passenger seat, wrapped up in several different blankets, she started texting everyone. Her mother, Thea, Digg, Walter, Laurel and Sara, and she even emailed the HR department in QC.

She was surprised to see Detective Lance calling.

‘Now is not the best time, sir’, is what Felicity answered with.

‘Tell Harper to go on 4th, not on Main Street. There’s less traffic.’

Felicity laughed, she couldn’t help it.

⌂

3 minutes later, Oliver was FaceTime-ing her. She laughed when she answered and saw that he was in the car already.

‘Are you okay?’, he asked breathlessly, concern written all over his face.

‘Perfectly fine’, she giggled. ‘Roy’s behaving too.’

‘He’d better.’

Roy groaned. ‘Three years, and he still doesn’t trust me.’

Felicity just kept laughing.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Yes, Oliver.’

‘You’re laughing a lot.’, he raised an eyebrow.

‘That’s because you’re still wearing your mask, doofus.’

Oliver groaned, but he did take his mask off.

‘Babe’, Felicity said softly. ‘I love you.’

‘Me too’, he didn’t hesitate in answering. ‘But I’m nervous.’

‘I’m happy’, she responded, and that was all he needed to grin.

They hung up only when Roy got to the hospital.

⌂

When Oliver arrived, Felicity was already in bed, in a hospital gown, with several different machines connected to her body, and Roy was pacing the room back and forth, asking her if she needed anything ever other minute.

Oliver took a few seconds to catch his breath, Felicity was pretty sure he run up the stairs, but then he quickly moved to her bedside, where Roy already put a chair a few minutes before.

They didn’t say anything, they just held hands, with Oliver’s head resting on her shoulder, with Felicity smiling into his hair and petting it gently.

‘I’m terrified’, he finally said.

‘I know’, Felicity agreed. ‘But everything is going to be all right, everyone keeps telling me.’

‘My arrows can’t protect you in here.’

Felicity kissed him then, urgently and desperately, and she didn’t stop until another contraction came. She would have laughed at the terrified expression on Oliver’s face, but she was too busy clenching on his hand because of the pain.

⌂

By the time the nurses came in to prep her for surgery, Felicity was just about done with everything.

Roy kept pacing the room and biting his nails, and Oliver grew more and more anxious with every passing minute. She tried to calm him down, but it didn’t work.

Going into surgery was a relief.

⌂

Every bad thought flew away from her mind the moment she held her daughter. The baby was crying, her small red face all scrunched up, but Felicity never heard a more beautiful sound.

She was crying too, but she barely noticed it.

Oliver was also crying, but he wasn’t looking away from his daughter. He ran a finger over her small cheek, and bit his lip, but Felicity still heard the small whimper. She didn’t hesitate in giving him a quick kiss.

He looked down at her, then, in wonder and disbelief.

‘I love you’, he breathed out, making her chuckle.

‘You’re a daddy.’

‘You’re a mommy.’

At that, Felicity looked back to her daughter. She stopped crying, and she was now just blinking up at her.

‘You, little princess’, Felicity whispered to her, kissing her forehead, ‘you are going to be awesome.’


	72. Role Reversal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Olicity Role reversal?_

‘Miss-uh. Felicity. Oh. Wow. Everything about you just became so unbelievably clear.’

She just threw him a look.

‘You’re bleeding’, is what Oliver said next.

‘I don’t need to be told that’, she panted, but didn’t look away from him.

‘You need a hospital.’

‘Wait!’, Felicity breathed out. ‘My father’s old factory in the Glades.’

‘You need a doctor!’, Oliver frowned. ‘Not a steel worker.’

‘Oliver!’, she pleaded. ‘You have to promise me that you are going to take me to my father’s factory and nowhere else.’

He hesitated, looking in her eyes, but he must have seen something, because the last words Felicity heard before she passed out were Oliver’s concerned ‘I promise.’

→→

Oliver’s mind was frizzing.

He _knew_ that all those stories Felicity told him were lies. But she was the heir of the Smoak empire. Her name was on the office building!

Never in a million years would have Oliver thought that Felicity was the Hood.

Drug dealer? Sure. Mob boss? Plausible. The Hood? It still felt surreal to Oliver, even if the proof was, literally, in the backseat of his car.

He knew about her, everybody knew. Felicity Smoak went missing 5 years ago, when her father’s boat was wrecked in a storm. She was with her boyfriend’s brother on board, and with her father. When those fishermen found her on that deserted island, she was in a pretty bad condition, the tabloids said. She never talked with the press about what happened, except for that day in court when she told everybody that she was the only survivor of the ship wreck.

Felicity kept to herself, since she came back. Oliver knew about her, before, she was always in the tabloids, partying and getting drunk with her best friend. He really couldn’t believe the Felicity that walked into his office all those weeks ago was the same person.

Because she took his breath away when she came into his small office on the IT floor. Her hair was dyed blonde (not the dark brown he saw all those years ago on tv), she was wearing a simple jeans skirt, that stopped just above her knees, paired with a simple dark grey jumper. But she was also wearing a pair of bright red boots and her lips were painted a bright pink color that he quickly grew accustomed to.

Oliver babbled, instantly, but she didn’t take offence, she just smiled her way through the conversation. About a bullet-ridden laptop.

He didn’t ask. That wasn’t his job. Well, he didn’t ask much.

But Felicity came back, again and again, and to Oliver, the lies were getting even more ridiculous with each of her visits, and her skirts were getting shorter and shorter.

He still didn’t ask. But he did his best to keep his traitorous mouth shut, and to help her. She seemed thankful; always smiling and making butterflies appear in his stomach.

Oliver felt the need to ask once Walter went missing, shortly after he handed him the notebook. So he called Felicity, and asked to see her, swallowing his heart and gathering his courage.

‘Yes, you can trust me, Oliver’, she said, a small frown between her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

So he gave her the notebook and explained what he knew from Walter. Oliver clearly saw her falter, even if Felicity told him she never saw it before.

Oliver sighed, feeling disappointed at her lie, even if she was making his heart beat out a samba.

‘Thank you’, she pulled him out of his mind. ‘For giving me this.’

He shook her head. ‘Just be careful what you do with it, okay?’

Felicity frowned. ‘What does that mean?’

‘It means that Walter might have died because of it.’, Oliver explained, slowly. ‘And I don’t know why, or how, but I’m sure that you know more than you let on.’

She blinked, her look instantly turning hard, just shy of murderous. ‘I don’t-‘

‘I don’t know what you’re involved in’, he willed his voice to not break, ‘and I’m not even sure I’d want to know, but be careful, Felicity.’

She was still frowning, but she smiled a bit. ‘I can take care of myself.’

‘I’m sure you can’, Oliver smiled back. ‘But something must be up, if it made you crawl into the depths of the IT department and lie to a stranger so much.’

Felicity didn’t answer. Oliver took that as the response it was and left.

That was yesterday.

→→

Today, he was carrying Felicity, bridal style, straight to an abandoned building. There was blood on his hands, and on his chest, where he opened his shirt on the drive here.

‘Excuse me!’, he yelled once he was down the stairs and noticed a man sitting at a computer, several feet away in the basement.

The man turned to him, instantly, raising a gun. Oliver recognized him as Felicity’s bodyguard, John something.

‘She lost a lot of blood’, Oliver wheezed out, and the man lowered the gun and started moving.

John Diggle, as he briefly introduced himself, took Felicity and put her on a metal table, wheeling it towards the medical equipment.

He was talking, but Oliver was frozen in place. Because John took off her hood, and beyond the black sports bra she was wearing, there were scars. A lot of them. And a tattoo, that was now decorated in blood. In her blood.

‘Oliver!’, John yelled, grabbing a hold of his wrist.

‘She wasn’t alone on that island’, he whispered. John didn’t say anything, but he didn’t let go of his wrist either.

‘Who would do such a thing? She’s just a girl.’, Oliver was having a hard time controlling the tears that were fighting to fall from his eyes.

‘She’s anything but’, John chuckled, slightly. ‘And she trusted you, a lot, tonight. I need you to help me save her.’

That snapped Oliver out of it, and he quickly moved to apply pressure on the towel John put on Felicity’s wound.

‘I need you to trust me’, John said, somewhat kindly. ‘She’ll be fine, she’s been through a lot worse than this.’

And Oliver did trust him. So he swallowed around the lump in his throat, put on a pair of gloves, and did everything John told him to.

→→

After John did everything he could, Felicity’s pulse was steady and she wasn’t conscious.

Oliver couldn’t stay still. So he wondered through the basement, looking at all the different arrows on display, at the boxes of what he assumed were guns. His eyes fell on a small mirror on the wall, that had a small wooden vanity under it. It looked so out of place, so he stepped closer to it, seeing that Felicity had a hair brush on it, a bit of makeup, and three bottles of nail polish. Bright yellow, dark blue and mint green.

John started talking, then. He explained some things, making Oliver understand what happened in the past months. He took it with his head up and mind clear, but his heart didn’t calm down.

He liked John. Beyond being a military man, Oliver saw how much he cared about Felicity, and he appreciated the way John treated him. Even if the topic wasn’t light, they still bantered and joked around, it came easily, surprisingly so.

When John told Oliver that Felicity couldn’t have done a lot of things without him, that the energy drink was really Vertigo, and that the bullet laptop helped them save Walter from Deadshot, any doubt Oliver had in his mind about the Hood flew out the window.

→→

When Felicity started seizing, her heart stopping after, Oliver reached for his phone to call 911. John stopped him, reaching for the defibrillator. It didn’t work, but Oliver fixed it, there was just a faulty wire.

John kept talking.

A few minutes later, Felicity flat lined again. But it still was just a faulty wire.

Oliver felt lighter, now. He was still terrified that Felicity wasn’t going to pull through, and he was very confused about his place in all of it, but at least now he knew the truth.

He picked up Felicity’s bow, experimentally pulling on the string, and got John to talk about the body count. After that conversation, he understood the way John thought. And why Felicity did what she did.

Oliver didn’t really agree with it, but it didn’t matter. He said as much, and John smirked.

‘I have a feeling she’ll be the judge of that.’

Oliver didn’t really know what to answer to that, but he had a feeling John was right.

→→

When Felicity woke up, she realized quickly that she was on a metal table in the foundry. There were wires coming out of her left arm, and she didn’t have the hood on anymore. The aching pain in her left shoulder reminded her of what happened.

She turned her head to the side, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw John and Oliver.

‘I guess I didn’t die.’, is what she said.

‘Again’, she added at the bitchface John directed to her.

She looked at Oliver then, and found herself at a loss for words.

‘Cool’, she managed to say, making John shake his head and making Oliver laugh.

→→

‘The Police collected a sample of your blood at Smoak Consolidated’, Oliver said from where he was sitting at the computer. ‘I just hacked the crime lab and ordered the sample destroyed. Oops.’

He smiled, but it faded quickly when he spun the chair around and was faced with Felicity. A breathing, very much alive Felicity, that had a gray hoodie on her now, and a particularly violent frown between her brows.

‘Sorry’, Oliver started, rising up from his chair. ‘Your system looked like it was from the 80s, and not the good part of the 80s, like Madonna and… Tron.’

Felicity smiled, coming closer. ‘That’s a lot of work. Does that mean you’re in?’

‘In, as in I’m going to join your crusade?’, Oliver nervously waved his hands around.

‘Well, you’re practically an honorary member of the team already’, Felicity replied, easily, making Oliver’s heart skip a beat.

He shared a look with John, and when he turned back to look at Felicity, he couldn’t help but let his eyes fall to her shoulder, where her tattoo was peeking out of the hoodie, along with her stitches.

‘No’, he breathed out.

‘Then why’d you update my system?’, Felicity asked, somewhat forcefully.

Oliver shook his head. ‘First, because seeing a network that poorly set up hurts me. In my soul.’

Felicity opened her mouth to say something, but he didn’t let her.

‘And second, I want to find Walter.’.

That made her falter, looking at him in confusion. ‘My stepfather’.

‘He was nice to me’, Oliver said, gently, knowing that he would have to explain it later. ‘And Diggle told me that the notebook you use to find crime is the same notebook that got Walter abducted.’

Felicity rolled her eyes and looked at John in annoyance, who simply shrugged din reply.

‘I’ll help you rescue him’, Oliver moved on when Felicity turned to him again, ‘but that’s it. Then, I want to go back to my boring life of being an IT nerd.’

Felicity was looking at him weirdly. It made his knees go weak.

But he managed to smile. ‘That’s my offer.’

‘Okay’, Felicity agreed, easily enough. She extended her hand.

Her mint green nails had blood on them. She had one simple gold ring on her middle finger, and the sleeves of the hood were too long for her.

Still, the moment Oliver held her hand in his, a spike of electricity went through his body.

When she said ‘Thank you’, frowning slightly but smiling a bit, a whole storm of emotions passed through her eyes. And Oliver found himself mesmerized.

 _I’m in trouble_ , he thought.   _And not because of the Hood, but because of Felicity’s eyes._

→→

Years later, Oliver is standing in front of an altar, wearing an expensive suit and looking at the most beautiful sight he has ever seen.

Felicity, in a wedding dress, smiling up at him through teary eyes and holding onto his hands tightly.

‘Oliver’, the priest whispers. ‘You’re supposed to say your vows now.’

Felicity laughs, and so do all their friends and family. Oliver shakes his head and takes a deep breath.

‘When I met you, I thought that I was in trouble. Not because of your name’, he presses a finger into Felicity’s wrist, where he knows her arrow tattoo is, ‘but because of your eyes. Yeah, babe’, he chuckles. ‘It’s the middle of our wedding, and your eyes got me in trouble. But it’s your heart that saves me. It’s always your heart that saves me. And I-‘

Felicity kisses him and Oliver forgets the rest of his vows.  


	73. Sherlock in the Foundry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [devouringfoodandstuff](http://devouringfoodandstuff.tumblr.com/) asked: _I have loved your sherlock/felicity prompt since I read it but how about, not yet established olicity with sherlock commenting on their relationship. I'm fascinated by these two fandoms merging_

When Sherlock Holmes and John Watson knocked on the Foundry door, literally, Oliver and Roy freaked out. Felicity just laughed. A lot.

She laughed through explaining to her friends who Sherlock and John were.

‘So what? We just let them in?’, Roy frowned.

Felicity shrugged. ‘If they’re here, they probably need help. And I’m 80% sure they already know Oliver’s the Arrow.’

That didn’t stop Oliver from putting on his mask, though.

Felicity was still laughing when she went up the stairs to open the door, but she took a deep breath before punching in the code.

Sherlock was ever more handsome in real life that on tv. He quickly did a once-over of Felicity, and she tried her best not no blush under his scrutiny. John, though, his jaw dropped when he saw Felicity.

‘Can I help you?’, she asked as innocently as she could.

Sherlock narrowed his eyes. ‘We’re here to speak with the Arrow.’

Felicity hummed. ‘And just for the sake of his sanity, how did you know to find him here?’

‘I correlated every sighting of the Arrow that didn’t seem like they were planned, and triangulated them.’, Sherlock said, quickly. ‘I restricted the possible area to about 5 miles, but after deducing that the Arrow is Oliver Queen, of course his club was the only feasible possibility.’

Roy started laughing, downstairs. Felicity sighed, wishing she was there to see Oliver’s face. But she wasn’t, so she smiled kindly, and straightened her back.

‘Mr. Holmes, Doctor Watson. My name is Felicity Smoak, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’

Sherlock raised an eyebrow, and John seemed to snap out of his reverie. He shook her hand, smiling politely.

‘Follow me, please.’, Felicity turned her back and went down the stairs. Roy was still snickering, holding a hand over his mouth, and Oliver was glaring daggers, hands crossed over his chest. But his hood and mask were off, so Felicity counted that as a win.

Felicity didn’t stop walking until she was sitting by Oliver’s side, and Roy quickly moved until she was standing between the two men.

Sherlock was looking at Oliver, up and down, clearly analyzing him. He did the same to Roy, after. All the while, John kept looking at the Foundry, with his jaw dropped and a bit of giddy excitement in his eyes, Felicity thought.

‘So, Mr. Holmes, Dr. Watson’, Felicity said when the silence was too defeating to her ears, ‘this is Oliver Queen, aka The Arrow, and Roy Harper, aka Arsenal. What can we do for you?’

‘You don’t have a nickname?’, John asked, making Sherlock frown down at him.

Felicity giggled. ‘No, no I do not, thank you very much. Felicity is just fine.’

He nodded, and asked them to call them John and Sherlock.

‘What do you want?’, Oliver asked, impatient.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow at his outburst, but he didn’t say anything.

‘We need your help with a case’, John said, slowly.

‘What case?’, Roy asked, curiously.

Sherlock started talking then, explaining everything. John intervened every now and then. Felicity intervened a lot, asking questions.

/221B/

Oliver was clearly reluctant to help the two English men, even if Felicity assured him that they were trustworthy. But when Sherlock finished explaining the case, Felicity made her way to the computer, opening up a document that was hardly ever used, but still sat on the desktop.

‘So basically, you think that this Albert Davis is going to try and blow up the Mayor.’

‘And the DA’s office’, Watson continued, ‘and the city Court and the Police and-‘

‘Why come to us, though?’, Roy frowned. ‘Why not go to the Police? Or the FBI, NSA, something.’

‘Our evidence is circumstantial’, Sherlock waved a hand, ‘nobody would have believed us.’

‘Just as I thought’, Felicity nodded, giving Oliver a triumphant look. ‘Albert Davis sounded familiar.’

‘He’s on my father’s list.’, Oliver nodded.

‘On the same page as Isabel Rochev’, Felicity glared. Oliver had the decency too look away.

‘What list?’, Watson frowned. ‘What does that mean?’

‘It means that we’re going to help you’, Felicity grinned.

/221B/

John and Sherlock integrated surprisingly well.

At first, John tried keeping up with all the hacking Felicity was doing, but after a while, he gave up and ended up talking with Oliver and Roy about guns and war and tactics.

Sherlock, though, he barely moved from Felicity’s side. At first, he did look at her computer, but after a while, he just stood in a chair next to her and … he was thinking, Felicity thought.

They didn’t talk much. Every now and then, Sherlock would say something, a word or sometimes a full sentence. Felicity always responded to him, and he always seemed surprised by it.

They spent a lot of time in the lair, and in three days, they did manage to get enough information on Davis to put him in jail.

Roy and Oliver were off to steal the files they needed, so Felicity was left in the lair with Sherlock and John.

The doctor was doing something on his phone, and Sherlock was in his usual chair, next to Felicity.

‘Do you mind if I ask you something?’, he said, startling her.

She regarded him curiously, but his expression was somewhat soft, so Felicity turned off her microphone and angled her body more towards him.

Sherlock was frowning, looking down at where she put her hands in her lap.

‘You and Oliver’, he started, ‘you talk like you’ve been together for years, you look at each other like you’re going to be together forever, you both act like there isn’t anybody in the world more important than the other one, but you don’t act like you’re a couple. What did John call them, PDAs?’

Felicity’s jaw dropped. She knew she was blushing, but he tried her best to gain back her composure.

‘Does it matter?’

Sherlock’s eyes snapped up to hers. ‘No. But I am curious.’

‘You’re never curious’, John said.

Neither Felicity nor Sherlock turned to look at him.

Felicity shrugged, smiling. ‘It’s complicated.’

‘Because he’s the Arrow?’

She tilted her head. ‘That’s part of it. He think he’ll be putting me in more danger than I already am. Then, there’s the part where he’s Oliver Queen and I’m just… an IT girl from Vegas who is his EA.’

‘That doesn’t matter’, Sherlock shook his head. ‘Oliver is not the type of man who cares about things like social status. And you are already in danger, because you’re working with him.’

Felicity bit her lip. ‘Then there’s the other thing. Where he doesn’t believe he deserves to be loved. No matter how much the people around him try to convince him otherwise.’

Sherlock didn’t say anything, but he kept on frowning and looked away.

‘That must be hard for you’, John said kindly.

Felicity turned to him and smiled. ‘He still cares about me. I never thought I’d even get that, so…’

‘Felicity!’, Oliver’s voice sounded in her ear.

‘I’m here.’

‘We got the files, we’re heading back.’

Felicity grinned and looked to Sherlock.

‘We’ll be waiting’.

/221B/

After Oliver and Roy returned, Sherlock announced that they were leaving.

John politely shook everyone’s hand and thanked them for their help.

Sherlock shook hands with Roy, then he kissed Felicity’s cheek. When he shook Oliver’s hand, he didn’t let go of it as he spoke.

‘Thank you for your help, Mr. Queen, and rest assured your secret is safe with us. Word of advice? Stop being stupid and do something about Ms. Smoak, because it’s not easy finding a woman as trustworthy as she is beautiful, who obviously cares about you as much as you do about her.’

With that, he turned around and left, leaving everyone with their jaws dropped in his wake. John shook his head and set another hasty ‘goodbye’, before he ran to catch up with Sherlock.

‘What was that about?’, Oliver asked, pointedly looking at Felicity.

She bursted out laughing. ‘I don’t know, but Sherlock Holmes just called be beautiful.’

Oliver rolled his eyes.


	74. Run, boy, run.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _ok so anything that shows felicity's athletic side, long distance running, gymnastics, yoga, dance, soccer.. whatever. i refuse to believe that with that body she’s not good at some sort of physical activity.. THANK U_

‘I was wondering if I could get Saturday the 23rd off’, Felicity asked shyly, nervously playing with the hem of her shirt. That was the only thing that made Oliver doubtful.

‘Sure’, he nodded, easily. ‘That’s three weeks ahead, we’ll work around it. May I ask why?’

Felicity hesitated, making Oliver take a step forward.

‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but you know you can tell me anything, right?’

That made Felicity smile and shake her head.

‘It’s nothing bad. I just… There’s a local charity, that works with women suffering from breast cancer. And they organize this marathon, well, half a marathon, 15 miles actually, and they do it every year, to raise money.’

Oliver blinked. ‘You… you’re helping them organize it?’

Felicity threw him a look. A very particular one, that he mentally called her bitch face.

‘I’m running. For charity.’

Then she turned around, in a flourish, puffing, her ponytail hitting Oliver in the face. He really couldn’t say anything more.

┗┓

‘So are you training?’, Oliver asked her out of nowhere, two days later.

Felicity blinked. ‘Of course.’

‘What are you doing?’

He seemed genuinely curious, so Felicity shrugged and answered.

‘I run in the park every morning, 5-6 miles. And when I get home at night, I get on the treadmill and do the 15 miles. And, you know, yoga when I have the time, the mandatory stretching, that sort of thing.’

Oliver frowned, concern clouding his features. ‘Are you getting any sleep?’

She usually leaves the Foundry after midnight, and when Oliver gets to the office at 9 am, she’s there.

‘Yeah’, Felicity smiled softly. ‘I get 5 hours of sleep at night, and I power nap a lot.’

‘I have never seen you take a nap’, Oliver frowned some more.

She snickered. ‘I’m sneaky about it. I usually nap when you’re at lunch or on patrol.’

Oliver put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Don’t drain yourself.’

‘It’s fine’, she brushed it off. ‘I can handle it for a couple of more weeks. But thank you for your concern.’

‘Always.’

┗┓

The next morning, Oliver called Diggle. He was still at home, taking care of Lyla and their newborn, but he always answered.

‘Do you think I can manage to train enough in 2 weeks to run 15 miles?’

There was a pause.

‘I missed something’, Digg finally said.

After Oliver explained the situation, John started laughing.

‘Sure, man’, he finally said. ‘You can do it, go for it. But you are aware how this will look from Felicity’s perspective, right?’

‘Uh-‘

‘Never mind’, Digg sighed.

Oliver ignored him.

┗┓

Felicity just stared at Oliver for a couple of seconds when she opened the door the next morning and saw him on her porch.

‘Really?’, she finally said, raising an eyebrow and taking in Oliver’s training apparel.

He just grinned.

They ran 5 miles that morning. Oliver was completely surprised by Felicity.

On one hand, because of her stamina, and her posture. She was a good runner, and she knew what she was doing.

On the other hand, because of her routine. She circled the park about 10 times, but every now and then, she’d change the route. Once, so she could stop and talk to one of her neighbors, a nice old lady who was walking a husky, who was completely in love with Felicity, by the looks of things. Another time, she took a detour so she could buy a bottle of water, and an espresso. She drank the coffee like it was a shot of tequila, then sat down on the grass until she drank her water.

They didn’t talk much, surprising Oliver once again. But he didn’t mind it. It actually made him feel lighter when he walked into the office that morning.

┗┓

Oliver started training, properly, when he got home from the Foundry. Just like she did.

But he didn’t tell Felicity.

┗┓

It was all worth it, for her reaction on the morning of the run.

Oliver managed to avoid running into her while he was registering, getting a number and paying the admittance fee. The donation, his mind supplied.

He saw Felicity at the starting line, she was stretching and muttering to herself. She was wearing a pair of black running pants and a red top, but Oliver was pleased to see she still had some pink lipstick on.

Oliver made his way towards her, as silently as possible, getting close enough that he could lower his voice, so that the people around didn’t hear them.

‘Will you run faster if the Arrow’s chasing you?’

Felicity froze for a couple of seconds. Then she slowly turned around, a look of disbelief in her eyes. It faded away quickly, being replaced with a very soft and loving one.

Next thing he knows, Oliver has his hands full of a very warm Felicity, who’s hugging the life out of him, kissing each of his cheeks twice. He laughed and hugged her back, of course he did, but when she pulled back, he repeated the question.

Felicity snorted. ‘I think it’s more likely that I’m going to be running faster to catch up to the Arrow.’

Oliver smiled and shook his head. Then, he started stretching.

┗┓

They ran the whole race side by side. Felicity kept telling him that he shouldn’t slow down just for her sake, but Oliver assured her that he really wasn’t.

He was in good shape, he knew he was, but 15 miles was still a long stretch. It didn’t seem too long with Felicity by his side, though.

There was one mile left of the race when Felicity took a bottle of water from one of the tables on the side of the road. She didn’t drink it, instead she poured it on top of her head and on her chest and hands. So her hair was wet, and her t-shirt was clinging sinfully to her curves. Oliver tripped over nothing.

‘Are you okay?’, Felicity asked, snickering.

‘Yeah. Come on. Just a bit more left.’

He started running again, but he did take his t-shirt off, securing it in the pack of his pants.

Felicity was the one who tripped this time, and when she righted herself, she glared at him.

‘You asshole!’

Then, she instantly turned serious. ‘There are cameras around!’

‘I don’t care’, Oliver shrugged, really not caring about his scars at that point. He started running faster, smirking over his shoulder. ‘Keep up, Ms. Smoak.’

┗┓

She did keep up. They finished the race side by side.

Felicity just collapsed to the ground, laying on her back and catching her breath. Oliver did the same next to her, but he was on his front. The cement felt very cool against his chest and cheek, it was delightful.

After a while, a volunteer came over and handed them each a bottle of water, smiling and congratulating them. They took the water, but made no move to drink it, both of them still panting.

Oliver managed to move a hand so he could grasp her fingers in it.

‘We did it.’

Felicity turned her head to him, grinning and squeezed his hand. ‘We’re awesome.’

‘Completely awesome’, he agreed.

‘I can’t breathe.’

‘Me neither’, he laughed.

‘Okay, the ground is a good place to be right now.’

‘Absolutely’.

Oliver moved a bit, then, getting closer to her, close enough that he could kiss her upper arm and push his cheek to her skin. He couldn’t really manage more than that. It still made her snicker.

┗┓

The next day, the internet is full of pictures of the two of them, laying on the ground, sweaty and gross and smiling like idiots. People are talking about a romance between them, but they ignore it, of course.

It doesn’t stop Roy from framing one of the pictures and hanging it on the Foundry’s wall. It was a great picture, and it made Oliver blush every time his eyes landed on it, because it was taken at the exact time he kissed her skin, and both of them looked absolutely smitten and in love.

He didn’t say anything. 

┗┓

A couple of years later, they used that picture on the invitation for the engagement party.


	75. dude. bro. soulmate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this](http://friedsteak.tumblr.com/post/97762673041/paleredsunday-share-a-coke-with-dude-bro) post.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been in the fic writing mood lately. Will try to get back on track this weekend, though ^.^

They had to remodel the Foundry, after Slade’s attack on it. And they did, and Felicity was sure to make a few adjustments, for the sole reason of comfort.

So now, the Foundry had a couch, a small kitchenette with a microwave and a fridge, and one day, Oliver just appeared with a coffee table, a tv and a gaming system, much to Roy’s excitement.

And suddenly, Felicity was surrounded by fratboys.

A game of Halo or Call of Duty was now _part_ of their workout routine, and it always came along with shouting and cursing. There were bags of chips and popcorn everywhere (until Felicity reminded them to clean up). The kitchen was filled with empty cans of Coke (and that was Felicity’s fault, she admitted, because she was the one who was in charge of recycling them, when she realized Roy barely drank anything else).

Felicity was baffled.

She was happy, because Oliver and Roy getting along was a very important thing. But she also felt like an outsider. A bit. It was selfish of her, she knew it, but she couldn’t control her feelings.

She controlled her reactions, though, most of the time.

Until the Coke incident happened.

Δ⌂Δ

Felicity opened the fridge to find one shelf of it packet with coke cans.

She absolutely _loathed_ the ‘share a coke with’ campaign, because she never found her name and it always put her in an awkward situation.

Case in point: the Foundry fridge. 6 cans encouraged her to share a coke with Oliver, other 6 with Roy, 12 with a _dude_ , other 12 with a _bro_ , and two of them said _soulmate_.

Felicity just stared. For a long time. Longer than she was comfortable admitting.

‘What’s wrong?’, Roy asked, coming at her side.

‘Am I a dude?’, she asked in a straight voice.

‘Uh.. no?’

‘Am I a bro?’

‘Felicity?’

‘Soulmates don’t exist and I don’t want to share my coke can with anybody. That means I should drink a can with my name on it, so I can share it with myself. There’s no Felicity in there. Or Meghan. Hell, I’d even accept Codebreaker.’

‘Are you having a meltdown?’, Roy asked slowly. ‘Over Coke cans?’

Felicity closed the fridge and took a step back.

‘We’re playing Call of Duty.’, she told Roy, determined.

He balked. ‘We are?’

‘Yes’, she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the couch, ignoring how Oliver was looking at them from the salmon ladder.

Felicity threw her heels out of the way, grabbed the comforter from the back of the couch and covered her lap with it. She was wearing a skirt, but she still wanted to sit crossed legged.

Roy watched her wearily, but when she saw her actually log in, he quickly took the seat next to her.

Δ⌂Δ

20 minutes later, Roy was shouting like a madman and cursing the heavens, and Felicity was laughing her ass off, delighted in kicking his ass, even if it was just in game.

‘Why didn’t you say anything? I didn’t even know you knew how to play, Jesus Christ!’, Roy yelled, very affronted.

‘You never asked.’, she grinned.

Felicity opened her mouth to say something more, but stopped when a shirtless Oliver stepped in front of her. He was holding a can of coke, and he opened it and drank from it, a look of determination on his face.

Then he threw Felicity a look she couldn’t read, and handed her the half full coke can.

She took it, confused, but it didn’t stop her from drinking from it. Roy spluttered next to her.

‘What?’, she frowned, turning to Roy. Who was staring at the red can in her hand like it was an alien.

She looked down and saw that it was one of the _soulmate_ ones. Oliver just gave her a coke that said ‘share a coke with your soulmate’, after having drank from it.

Felicity blinked a couple of times, finally understanding what happened. Then, she promptly threw the rest of the coke in Oliver’s face. He yelped and took a step back, black soda dripping off his chest.

‘That was the least romantic thing you could have done.;, Felicity scoffed. 'Hell, Oliver, I don’t expect a lot, but seriously? That was so bad.’

Then, she kissed him, ignoring that there was sticky juice all over his face and chest.


	76. Drink up!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _ok so how about the bartender at the club got sick and thea is freaking out cuz the club is opening in like an hour and theres no one to bartend, and voila guess who bartended her way through college or something like that... thats r8, felicity!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pst! Stuff will happen when this reaches 100.000 hits. [Check it out!](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com/post/97878286236/g-i-v-a-w-a-y-my-pink-on-green-olicity)

Oliver and Roy came back from patrol one night to a very silent Foundry.

Oliver froze after he put his bow down. Then, he turned his head and looked around the Foundry. Twice.

‘Where’s Felicity?’, he finally asked, turning to Diggle, who was watching him, amused.

‘One of Thea’s bartenders called in sick.’

Digg didn’t continue. He snickered when Oliver’s expression grew impatient, but in the end he shrugged.

‘And apparently Felicity bartended her way through college.’

Oliver frowned, deeply.

‘Hey, boss!’, Roy grinned, excitedly. ‘Do you wanna grab a drink before we go home for the night?’

Oliver glared, but in the end, he nodded.

»

As he waited for Roy to come out of the shower, Oliver checked the clubs’ video feeds. He found himself utterly confused.

Damien, one of the bartenders he knew, was on one end of the counter, and Felicity was at the other one.

She wasn’t wearing the office dress she wore when Oliver left the Foundry. Now, she was in a pair of black short jeans, and a black tank top with a generous cleavage. Around her waist, she had wrapped her white scarf, and your eyes were drawn to it because of the UV lights in the club.

Her hair was messily braided like a crown around her head, she took off all her jewelry except for her earrings, her lips were as pink and ever and she was grinning.

She was also dancing. Swinging her hips to the music as she took orders and fixed drinks.

And god did she fix drinks! She was fast, Oliver noted. Felicity wasn’t checking the book they had under the counter, with the cocktail recipes, but she was making all the cocktails from memory. It seemed that she made good drinks, judging by the way the customers smiled and the way Damien kept looking at her, impressed.

Felicity moved around the space. A lot. She was fast, darting from the glasses, to the fridge, to the tip box, she was all over the place, always smiling. Still, it didn’t seem like the customers were waiting a lot.

Just as Roy came out of the shower, Oliver saw Felicity make her way towards Damien, with a cup of coffee in her hand. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy as she handed him the coffee, smiling all the while. Damien looked relieved, and he bent down to kiss her cheek. Felicity giggled, patting him on the back, and bounced back to her place at the other end of the bar.

Oliver closed the monitor and dodged the knowing looks Roy and Diggle were giving him, making his way up the stairs.

»

They stopped by the table Thea usually sat at. She greeted them smiling, and grinning as she kissed Roy. Oliver scrunched up his nose, making her sister laugh.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Damien coming over and handing her a drink.

‘Can we hire her?’, is the first thing he said. ‘Please, can we hire Felicity?’

‘She’s that good?’, Roy asked.

‘Dude.’, Damien breathed out. ‘She’s better than me. She’s fast, and she has no problem in dealing with money, and she knows every single cocktail by heart. And, and!’, he bounced excitedly, ‘she flirts with everyone, just a bit, just enough to earn her a good tip.’

‘She’s amazing’, he sighed dreamily, making Oliver deepen his frown.

‘She already has a job.’, he said, with a lot more force than he intended.

‘Yeah’, Roy grinned, clapping Damien on the back. ‘But you should feel special, cause she never brings Oliver coffee.’

Oliver didn’t respond to that, he just made his way towards the bar. He was surprised to see that Diggle and Roy followed him, but he didn’t comment.

When Felicity saw them, she grinned so wide, she looked like a chipmunk. She winked and made a complicated hand gesture, which Oliver translated to ‘wait’.

After not more than a minute, Felicity made her way towards them, smiling all the while. She handed John a beer, Roy a rum and coke, judging by the smell, and she put a glass in front of Oliver with a flourish of movements. The drink was dark green.

He eyed it suspiciously, but at her excited expression, he took a sip. And promptly coughed, because he didn’t expect it to be that strong.

‘What is this?’, he wheezed out.

‘Mostly vodka’, Felicity grinned. ‘Some absinthe.’

‘… it’s good.’, he nodded weekly.

‘I know’, she replied cockily. ‘Let me know if you need anything else, boys. And don’t wait up.’ Felicity winked and made her way back to the other side of the bar, where some costumers were waiting.

»

Oliver didn’t move from his spot by the bar. Before he left, Digg brought him a stool. Sometimes, Roy was by his side, sometimes Thea too. He always had a drink in front of him, though. Felicity didn’t bring him any more cocktails, but she did bring him his favorite beer.

Oliver never saw her drinking alcohol, though. Some flirty guys would offer, but she always declined, cheekily taking a sip from her coffee cup.

When the clock stroke 2 am, she brought him a cup of coffee. Oliver couldn’t help the smile that came over his face. He grabbed Felicity’s wrist and pulled her over the bar, ignoring her indignant whines and kissing her cheek.

She blushed a deep red, but she was still smiling.

‘Seriously, Oliver. You can go home.’

‘Of course’, he nodded. ‘I’m a grown man and I own a car.’

She sighed. ‘You’re not going home, are you?’

Oliver grinned. ‘Thank you for the coffee. Not get back to your flirting. I mean work, get back to work.’

The bitchface she threw him was a thing of beauty.

»

The crowd cleared out by 3:30. Oliver made his way towards Thea and Roy then, and sat down next to them on a couch. There were employees still running around, cleaning.

Felicity made her way towards them after half an hour. She let her hair down, and it was extra curly from being kept braided all night, she had her bag on her shoulder and the dress she was wearing earlier in the day was shoved into it, half of it still sticking outside.

Before she got a chance to say anything, Damien ran to her side, grinning all the way. He handed her a stack of money.

‘Your tips, milady.’

Felicity looked towards Thea, unsure. ‘I don’t-‘

‘You’re taking it’, Thea said with finality. ‘It’s the least I can do after you saved my butt.’

‘There’s 520$ in here.’, Damien pointed out. ‘100 bucks more than my record.’

‘The magic of boobs’, Felicity sighed happily, making Roy snort. She then reached for the money. ‘Yay, new shoes.’

‘OH MY GOD’, Thea shrieked in horror, looking at Felicity’s feet. ‘Did you spend the night in _those_ heels?’

Felicity shrugged. ‘No big deal. My feet are killing me, but I managed.’

Oliver stood up then, bidding his goodbye to everyone. He then wordlessly picked Felicity up, with a hand under her knees and one on her back. She spluttered for a bit, then she yelped, but then she put her hands around his neck, squeezing tightly.

‘Put me down, you Neanderthal!’, Felicity hissed in his ear.

‘Your feet hurt.’

She whined, pushing her nose up his neck.

‘I’m driving you home’, she sniffed.

‘Shouldn’t I be saying that?’

‘You drank. I didn’t.’

Oliver grinned. ‘You gonna spend the night to make sure I don’t get sick?’

Felicity stilled in his arms for a couple of seconds, just as they reached her car. He let her down, still grinning, and when she turned toward him, there was playfulness in her eyes that he loved.

‘Fine, I’ll stay the night.’, Felicity smirked. ‘I except big tips, though.’

‘That can be arranged’, he grinned, putting a hand on her waist and pulling her body flush against his.

Felicity yelped, looking up at him with wide eyes.

‘I need to give you vodka more often’, she wheezed out.

Oliver agreed, silently, because he was too busy chancing the taste of coffee off her tongue.


	77. the last straw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ orangerthanchloe](http://orangerthanchloe.tumblr.com/) asked: _Here's an Olicity prompt if ya want it!; Felicity has this thing with straws; it's perfectly reasonable and stops her smudging her lipstick but it's driving Oliver to distraction. Damnit. (Or something I guess, feel free to take that v loosely)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't. I can't do it. I can't write the sex. I'm sorry. You guys keep asking for it. But I can't. Not now, at least. There isn't enough vodka in the world right now to make me write the sex.

‘Why do we have a bazillion straws?’, Roy’s voice came from the small kitchenette, interrupting the silence in the Foundry.

‘Lipstick’, Felicity yelled from under her desk.

Oliver shared a confused look with Roy, but Felicity came out of her desk then, a triumphant grin on her face, and they moved past the moment.

↔

But Oliver never quite forgot it.

Because now, he was hyper aware every time Felicity had a drink.

His mind was in the gutter, clearly, because every time Felicity had a straw in her mouth, every time she sucked her drink through it… Oliver’s knees went weak and all his blood rushed between his legs.

It was horrible. And he couldn’t control it.

And Roy figured it out, because he’d always snicker and make fun of Oliver. With his eyes.

It was deeply unsettling.

↔

A week later, Oliver had enough. Each night he’d go home, and he’d either have a very long, cold shower, or he’d jerk off like a maniac, with Felicity’s lips on his mind.

He was desperate, so he threw away all the straws Felicity had in the Foundry. That still left him with the time they spent at the office, but that was manageable, because she usually drank when she was at her desk, so she was far from him.

Felicity didn’t say anything when she noticed her straws were missing. She just sighed and went back to work.

But that night, every time she had a sip of water or coffee, Felicity would pull out a pocket mirror and fix her lipstick.

It was worse.

It made Oliver even hornier, somehow.

↔

The next day, there was a new bag of straws in the Foundry.

Oliver wanted to scream.

But he didn’t.

He trained with Roy, then they went on patrol. When they came back, Roy left quickly, but Felicity stayed behind.

When he came out of the shower, Felicity was waiting for him. She had a glass of water in her hand, and her pink lips were creating a strong contrast against the white of the straw.

Oliver froze. Felicity took a step closer, almost touching. She didn’t stop drinking.

‘What-‘, his voice broke so he took a deep breath and tried again. ‘What do I have to do to make you stop using straws?’

‘Why would I stop using straws?’, Felicity asked innocently, batting her lashes up at him. She then tried to pick up her straw again, but she missed, so she was left chancing the thing with her tongue.

Oliver gulped. ‘Because it’s pornographic.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘You say that like it’s a bad thing.’

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and next thing he knows, Felicity’s lips are on his and she’s pushing him against the bathroom door.

Oliver heared the glass break when it hit the floor, but he couldn't do anything about it, because his hands were digging bruises onto Felicity’s hips, his heart was beating like crazy and she was biting on his lower lip.

She pulled away too quickly. Her pink lipstick was smudged all over, and Oliver reallydidn't want to think about how he looked like.

Felicity didn’t take her eyes off his lips when she talked, and her hands were still on the back of his neck.

‘I’ll see you in an hour. At my place.’

Her cheeks were bright red, there was a sheen of sweat on her left temple and she saw breathing slowly, controlled.

‘If you’re late, I’m going to start without you.’

Felicity walked away then, leaving behind a very confused Oliver. And excited. And half-hard.

↔

An hour later, Felicity opens the door to her apartment wearing only a bra and panties. Black, lace panties.

Oliver stared.

She giggled, delighted, and dragged him inside by his belt.

↔

The sex they had that night was intense. Desperate, and fast and hectic, and they barely got to the bed in time. In time for round two.

It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Oliver wasn’t sure that he wasn’t dreaming.

↔

When Felicity blew him after two rounds of sex, Oliver just … ascended to a whole new level.

That’s how he felt with Felicity’s lips on his dick and her hands on his hips.

He forgot to breath. So much so, that Felicity had to remind him to. He would have been embarrassed about it, if he wasn’t so blissed out.

When he came, Felicity bit on his hip. Hard.

But she then kissed his cheek in apology, and hugged him tight, resting her head on his chest.

Oliver wrapped his arms around her, and he was very close to falling asleep, but he still felt the need to say something.

‘Please don’t use straws in my presence anymore.’

Felicity laughed, somewhat manically. She kissed him chastely and threw one of her legs over his, snuggled in and closed her eyes.

She was asleep in less than a minute.

But Oliver realized that she didn’t say she’ll stop using straws. He was doomed.


	78. Buckymeow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets a kitty.

_inspired by[this ](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com/post/98148963556/awwww-cute-wait-for-me-posting-an-olicity)gif_

 

When things felt like they have settled down, Felicity did something she has always wanted to do. She’s been putting it off for years, but one day, she finally did it on an impulse.

She was at the mall, shopping for towels, of all things, when she passed by a pet store. Her eyes just flew to one of the cages displayed, where a small kitty, with black and white fur was sitting. The cat was curled up at one corner of the cage, but when Felicity took a step closer to the grass, it got up. The kitty slowly made its way towards the glass, shoving her little nose between the cage bars.

That’s when Felicity noticed that it kind of looked like it had a black mask on the otherwise white face. And only the chest and feet where white, like it was wearing a black jacket. She went into the pet store quickly.

:3

The cat turned out to be a boy, so Felicity didn’t hesitate in calling it Bucky. Because of reasons.

Bucky settled in pretty quick. He liked sleeping with Felicity in the room, but he didn’t go on her bed, but on the little kitty bed she brought him. He liked the bacon-flavored treats the best, his favorite toy was a red squishy ball and when Felicity was home, he always stayed close to her. He was curled up in her lap if she was working at the desk, he stood next to her on the couch if she was watching tv, he curled up on a chair if she was cooking.

Felicity fell in love with Bucky instantly. But that was okay, because Bucky seemed to love her back just as much.

:3

The first time Felicity had to leave town since she got Bucky, she begged Roy to take him. He agreed, amused.

When Oliver picked her up the morning of their flight, Roy was there too. Felicity handed the kitty cage over to him, alongside a bag of food and instructions. A lot of instructions. She wasn’t sure he was listening, though, because Roy seemed pretty focused on playing with Bucky through the cage bars.

After Felicity finished her rant, Roy finally looked up and smiled at her.

‘He’s adorable and I promise I will take good care of him. Now go, the boss’ waiting.’

Felicity kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly, promising to call from the trip.

The only thing Oliver said about the subject was to ask her when did she get a cat. Felicity talked for 10 minutes about Bucky, but Oliver didn’t seem to mind.

Throughout their trip, Felicity received pictures of Bucky doing odd things in Roy’s house. It was adorable, and it always made Felicity smile. So of course Oliver would lean over her shoulder to see what she was smiling about, and he’d smile too.

When they got back, Oliver drove from the airport straight to Roy’s house, for which Felicity was thankful. She sat on Roy’s couch and Bucky struggled to follow her, so she picked him up and sat him in her lap. He was still fussing, and when Felicity picked him up, he quickly dived straight into her cleavage.

‘What the hell have you been teaching him, Harper?’, Felicity tried her best to glare. But it was clear she wasn’t very successful, considering her kitty was in her bra and the men around her was laughing their asses off.

:3

When Digg and Lyla visited, along with their five month baby boy, Bucky spent the entire time trying to get close to him. It was hilarious, because he was so incredibly unsuccessful.

After a couple of hours, Lyla had enough. So she put the baby on the couch, and put Bucky next to him. The cat slowly got closer, sniffing. Then he put one of his paws on the baby’s chest, pushing slightly, cautiously.

Felicity figured that Bucky probably did this to make sure the surface can hold his weight, because he did it almost nonstop in the first week she brought him home.

Bucky must have deemed the baby hardy enough, because then he lied down next to him and rested his front paws and his head on mini-Digg’s chest. Minutes later, they were both asleep, with several grown-ups cooing around them.

:3

The first time Oliver slept over, they just cuddled on the couch and watched a movie till they were tired enough to go to sleep. Bucky followed Oliver around. Everywhere.

Always two steps behind of him, trying to run, struggling to keep up with Oliver’s big steps. When he sat on the couch, Bucky stopped two steps in front of him. The kitty slowly made its way towards Oliver’s feet, putting her paw on them and testing them. Bucky then curled up next to his feet, but he tickled Oliver, so Felicity picked her cat up and put him in her lap. But Bucky instantly went to Oliver’s lap. He was confused, looking at the kitty like it grew a second head, but he didn’t push it away.

The next morning, Felicity woke up with Oliver’s hand around her waist and with Bucky sleeping soundly in the little space that was left between their bodies.

Oliver didn’t seem to mind.


	79. help with dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [theiitgirll](http://theiitgirll.tumblr.com/) asked: _prompt: Oliver is trying to ask Felicity out but he start to babbling and Felicity doesn't understand what he is trying to say until Roy explain to her_

Felicity paused in her typing when Oliver came to stand beside her. They were in the Foundry, Oliver and Roy having returned from a routine patrol a couple of minutes ago. They were both freshly showered, Roy was puttering around with his arrows and Oliver was… looming over Felicity’s chair.

‘Can I help you?’, she raised an eyebrow.

‘Yeah’, Oliver breathed out, staring into her eyes.

But he didn’t say anything else, for a couple of long, awkward, seconds.

Felicity frowned. ‘With what?’

‘Dinner’, he said slowly.

‘You…’, Felicity puffed. ‘You want help with dinner?’

‘No. Yes.’, he shook his head. ‘No, I mean, I don’t need your help with dinner, I want you to go to dinner.’

‘I have frozen pizza at home.’, Felicity frowned some more. ‘Do you want me to leave?’

‘No’, Oliver was quick to answer, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Once again, for a few moments, he didn’t say anything. His finger started rubbing small circles on her collarbone, and Oliver was staring at the spot. Felicity’s skin was tingling, and she was probably blushing.

But she was very confused. Too confused to say anything, especially when she noticed that Oliver had a slight blush on his cheeks. That was a first. And it threw all of Felicity’s concentration away.

‘Would you have dinner with me?’, Oliver finally said.

‘Sure’, Felicity blinked. ‘It’s been a while since we had a Team Arrow Big Belly outing’, she giggled.

‘No’, Oliver frowned. ‘I meant, would you have dinner with me?’

‘You already said that, yes.’, Felicity frowned, getting up from her chair and forcing Oliver’s hand to fall from her shoulder.

‘Just us’, he breathed out, frustrated. ‘I meant that we should have dinner. Just the two of us.’

‘Is something wrong?’, Felicity asked, a bit too desperately that she should have. ‘You’re acting really weird and it’s freaking me out.’

Oliver took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he looked at Felicity then, she saw a lot of emotions in his eyes, but she couldn’t read them properly.

‘Nothing is wrong.’, he said quickly, shaking his head. ‘I would just like for the two of us to enjoy a nice dinner. Together. You and me.’

He was staring at her lips. Felicity was very confused.

‘Uhh… sure’, she finally said. ‘I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this. We have had dinner before. Several times. And lunch and breakfast and midnight snacks. Unless there’s something wrong, deeply wrong, judging by the incredibly horrific frown you’re supporting now, and you just want to butter me up before telling me.’

‘No’, Oliver growled, grabbing a hold of her hand and squeezing it tightly. ‘Nothing is wrong, I just think it’s time…’, he took a deep breath and continued in a gentle tone. ‘You and I, we’ve been through a lot and I can’t… I think that we… I want us to…’

Felicity’s eyebrows were through the roof.

‘I would help you with your words’, she blurted out, ‘like I usually do, but I have no idea what you’re saying.’

‘He’s trying to ask you out on a date!’, Roy yelled from the other part of the Foundry.

Oliver and Felicity both turned to look at him. He was still busy with his arrows.

‘It’s pathetic’, Roy continued. ‘It’s so pathetic, it’s not even funny anymore. So would you please say yes, kiss and get out of here?’

‘Roy!’, Felicity yelped, just as Oliver growled his name.

They turned to look at each other, then, and Felicity was delighted to realize that Oliver’s blush has deepened. He was biting his lower lip and looking at her with a lot of uncertainty in his eyes.

‘Oh my god’, Felicity breathed out. ‘Really?’, she shrieked. ‘Really? Are you serious?’

Oliver nodded. Slowly.

Felicity laughed, delighted. It made Oliver take a step back.

‘No, no, no’, she whined, taking a step after him, taking deep breaths to stop her laughter. ‘Come back.’

He still hesitated, so Felicity sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist. Oliver seemed to freeze, completely, but she didn’t back down, pressing her cheek to his chest.

‘I’m not laughing because I’m making fun of you.’, she told him softly. ‘It’s the sort of hysterical laughter I have when I’m too excited to cope.’

Oliver took a deep breath at that.

‘And while that was absolutely disastrous’, Felicity continued, ‘on one hand I can’t judge you because I would have handled that ever more horribly, and on the other hand, I know…’ She took a deep breath before continuing, lowering her voice. ‘I know how much it took for you to do it. How… important it is.’

There were silent for a few moments, until Oliver finally moved, raising a hand and gently, so gently, putting it on the back of her neck, making sure not to catch any of the hairs in her ponytail.

‘Is that a yes?’, he whispered.

Felicity snorted. ‘What do you think?’

‘I’m gonna-‘, Oliver squeezed her neck. ‘I’m going to need to hear you say it.’

She sighed, pressing into his embrace even more. ‘It’s a yes, Oliver. It’s always going to be a yes.’

At that, he brought up his other hand, putting it around her shoulders and holding her tightly. Felicity doesn’t know how long they stayed like that, but after a while, the silence was too defying for her ears.

‘We should go Friday. Not a lot happens in Starling on a Friday, nothing evil at least, everybody’s too busy partying’, Felicity rambled on, smiling all the while. ‘We could go for Italian. Do you like Italian? Everybody likes Italian. But we don’t have to go for Italian, we can go for whatever you like. I eat pretty much anything, as you know, so-‘

Oliver stopped her rambling by kissing her. He just angled her head up, and pressed his lips to hers. She was still smiling, but so was he. He pecked her lips three times, and started to pull back. Felicity didn’t let him.

She grabbed a hold of the hand he still had on her neck, by grabbing his wrist. Her other hand came up to his bicep and she used a bit of force to pull him in. It didn’t take a lot, Oliver went willingly.

The kiss was more, this time. It was fingers tightening on skin, it was Felicity forgetting to breathe when Oliver bit on her lower lip, it was Oliver taking a deep breath when Felicity dragged her tongue over his lips. It was sweet, and unhurried, like they had all the time in the world. It was hot and important, and a promise for something more. It was Felicity having a million butterflies in her stomach and Oliver whispering her name against her lips before kissing her again.

‘You do realize I’m still here, right?’, Roy’s amused voice came through.

Felicity startled and took a step back, looking with wide eyes at Oliver. He didn’t look away from her as he addressed their partner.

‘Roy, if you ever walk in on your parents, you don’t sit around. You run the other way, as fast as you can.’

He spluttered, in sync with Felicity, but as Roy ran away from the Foundry, Felicity just laughed and kissed Oliver again.


	80. Three Wines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy gives Felicity a very peculiar set of wine bottles.

inspired by [this](http://kashimiru.tumblr.com/post/81363116060/thinking-of-you-kira) post

 

**_→I saw them and I thought of you. I just couldn’t help myself._ **

Roy was grinning so widely, Felicity was afraid he’ll pull something. He was also handing her a large dark red gift box, with a bright pink bow in the center.

‘Thank you?’, Felicity said, doubtfully. Roy just kept grinning and put the box on her desk, excitedly waiting for her to open it.

Oliver also made his way to her desk, watching them curiously.

Felicity found it all very bizarre. But she did open the box, slowly, and her jaw dropped when she saw what was inside.

Three bottles of red wine, with different labels: rough day, break down and murder on my mind. She spent the next few seconds in shocked silence, reading the rest of the labels and not believing her eyes.

When she finally turned towards the men, Roy was grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, and Oliver’s eyes were darting between the two of them, a fond and exasperated smile on his face.

‘I saw them and I thought of you’, Roy winked. ‘I just couldn’t help myself.’

Felicity shook her head and gently put the lid back on the box. She then smiled and took a few steps towards Roy, cranking her neck so she could kiss his cheek.

‘You’re very sweet’, she told him, patting his cheek. ‘And I hate you.’

‘No, you don’t’, he snickered.

‘No, I don’t’, Felicity agreed, but that didn’t stop her from pinching his sides, causing him to yelp. That promptly evolved into a vicious tickle fight that only stopped when Oliver stepped between them.

‘Children’, he said, ‘playtime is later, we have work to do now.’

Felicity took the wine bottles home. She put them in her living room, on the small coffee table next to her burgundy couch.

**_→Rough Day_ **

The day Oliver managed to get back in the CEO chair at QC was supposed to be a great day.

It wasn’t, not for Felicity.

She was happy, for Oliver. He had worked a lot to get his family’s company back, and Felicity did whatever she could to help him along the way. And she didn’t even think about saying ‘no’ when Oliver asked her to be his EA again, she agreed instantly.

But their first day back was pretty bad, from Felicity’s point of view.

While everybody on the board was welcoming Oliver with open arms, willing to help him more this time around and support him, they all were surprised to find Felicity there. And they all thought she was there only temporarily.

Every director offered Oliver their EAs, because they were already trained in doing the job. At the same time, every EA and secretary in the building started gossiping about Felicity and her “obvious” relationship with Oliver.

By the end of the day, Felicity realized that she was out of practice, and that it was going to take a few days for her to get back into her normal rhythm.

Spending a couple of hours in the Foundry was a relief.

By the time she got home, though, Felicity’s brain was pretty tired. All she wanted to do was curl up on her couch and watch tv until she fell asleep.

She was surprised when Oliver let himself in an hour later, because he didn’t usually use his key without letting her know beforehand. But he was wearing sweatpants, and he had cupcakes, and he was willing to bring glasses and open up a bottle of wine for her.

When Oliver chose one of the wines she got from Roy, she didn’t say a word.

She did read the label out loud, though.

‘ _Rough day: drink me when you just need to take a breath and relax with a good movie or television show._ So’, she grinned at him, ‘what are we watching?’

‘Whatever you want’, he smiled back, getting comfortable on her couch.

An hour later, the wine was gone and they were both asleep.

_**→Break down** _

Felicity loved her mother, as much as she loved her. But their personalities didn’t match, at all. When they fought, all Hell broke loose.

And for the few days her mother stayed in Starling, they didn’t seem to do anything else then fight. She didn’t approve of Felicity’s lifestyle. Her apartment wasn’t good, her job was too demanding, Oliver was taking advantage of her, she didn’t have a man to take care of her, she got home too late, she didn’t eat healthy, her haircut didn’t suit her, her dresses were too revealing.

Felicity was sick of hearing it.

And she was embarrassed, because more often than not, Oliver or Digg were there to hear them fighting. They supported her, and comforted her, but she was so embarrassed, and so mad, because she couldn’t tell her mother how wrong she was, not without revealing Oliver’s secret.

By the time her mother left, Felicity was exhausted.

Oliver drove her home, and the second he closed the door behind them, Felicity started crying.

He held her, for a long time, enveloping her in his arms and letting her cry on his expensive suit. When Felicity managed to calm down a bit, Oliver drew her a bath and made her dinner.

When she came out of the bathroom, Oliver was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, there were two plates of grilled cheese sandwiches on the couch, an opened bottle of wine and The Simpsons were playing on the tv.

They settled on the couch, and after eating the sandwiches, Felicity read the label of the wine, because of course it was one of the ones from Roy.

‘ _Break down: you had a bad day, the kids are crying, the house is a wreck & you are about to lose your mind. Take a break and drink me.’_

‘You don’t have kids’, Oliver smiled cheekily, ‘and the house is in pretty top shape, but I feel like you needed a break.’

‘I did’, Felicity agreed.

She didn’t thank him, but she curled up against his side, and he let her, putting the comforter over her feet and putting a hand around her shoulders.

By the time the wine was done, Felicity was struggling with keeping her eyes open. So he wordlessly picked her up and took her to bed, pulling the comforter up to her chin and wishing her a good night.

Oliver slept on the couch, and in the morning, she was the one to make them breakfast.

**_→Murder on my mind_ **

Forty minutes. That’s how long Felicity waited between the explosion and the phone call.

Oliver was breaking into a lawyer’s house, trying to steal some files that would put him in jail, because Laurel asked for their help. It was supposed to be a simple mission, but once inside, Oliver found a bomb. Over the comm., she heard Oliver panting, running away, then the distinct sound of an explosion.

He didn’t answer, no matter how hard Felicity screamed for him.

She called Roy, even if it was his night off. He didn’t go to Oliver, he came to the Foundry, trying his best to keep Felicity and Laurel calm. He didn’t succeed much, but he did call Detective Lance and urged him to go at the scene.

Forty minutes later, Laurel hadn’t moved from her place near the mats, staring at the hoodie Oliver left behind.

Felicity was in her chair, crying her heart out. She was breathing heavily and she couldn’t stop her sobs. Roy was kneeling in front of her, rubbing a hand down her back and telling her that Oliver will be okay, over and over again. Felicity barely heard him.

When Lance called, Roy was the one to answer, putting the phone on speaker.

Oliver was fine, bruised and sore, but he didn’t have any major injuries. His comm. got fried in the explosion, and he stood behind to see if he could salvage anything in the wreck.

‘He’s already on his way back.’, Lance explained.

‘Why didn’t he call?’, Felicity managed to breathe out. ‘Why didn’t he tell us sooner?’

Lance paused. ‘You didn’t… ‘

‘We thought he was dead!’, she yelled, making Roy flinch.

‘He’s fine, Miss Smoak’, Lance sighed. ‘You’ll see him soon enough.’

She didn’t wait for him to close the call, Felicity got up and grabbed her bag rushing up the stair.

‘Where are you going?’, Laurel yelled after her.

‘Home’, Felicity spit out, not managing to keep her anger at bay.

Oliver was knocking at her door an hour later. He didn’t use his key, and that said a lot.

Felicity was still crying when she opened the door, and when she saw him there, with cuts and bruises on his face, with his eyes red and wearing one of Roy’s t-shirts, Felicity breathed a sigh of relief.

She still slapped him, across the cheek, as hard as she could. He didn’t say anything, so she slapped him again.

He still didn’t say anything, so she started hitting him, in the chest and his shoulder.

‘How could you do that to us?’, she yelled. ‘How could you do that to me? I thought you were dead! I thought I was going to have to burry you!’

Oliver just stood there, in her doorway, looking into her eyes and not trying to stop her fists from colliding with his body.

So she kept screaming, and she kept hitting him.

‘I thought I was never going to see you again! Never going to hear your voice! How could you be so stupid and forget to call me? How could you do that?’

‘I can’t lose you, you asshole! I can’t live without you, I can’t-‘

That’s what finally made him move. He grabbed her wrists until she stopped fighting, and wrapped his strong arms around her shoulders, pulling her in.

Felicity went with it, all but collapsing against his chest, and she started crying even harder.

‘I’m here’, Oliver whispered, over and over again. ‘I’m sorry, I’m here, I’m okay, I’m not hurt.’

She pushed away from him, but took his hand and dragged him inside, violently shutting the door behind them.

Then Felicity all but pushed Oliver down to the couch, and quickly straddled him. He yelped, looking at her with wide eyes, but didn’t stop her. Felicity didn’t kiss him, though, like he probably thought she would, she just fisted her hands in his shirt and buried her nose in the crook of his neck.

Oliver quickly got on with the program, bringing his hands up her back and holding her tightly.

‘I’m not going anywhere’, he whispered. ‘I promise, again, you’re not going to lose me.’

Even with that promise, she didn’t let go of him for another hour. When she did, Felicity didn’t move far, sitting beside him on the couch and telling him to bring the wine.

Of course he got the last of the bottles from Roy, but this time, he was the one who read the label.

‘ _Murder on my mind: your family is backing away slowly, maybe calling a priest. Take me upstairs & lock the door to the bedroom. Drink until the homicidal thoughts pass._’

‘If you ever do anything like that again’, Felicity leveled him with a look, ‘I will kill you.’

Oliver nodded, seriously. After he poured the wine into glasses, he sat down next to Felicity, as closely as he could.

‘I’m not backing away slowly, though’, he said, playfully, and Felicity couldn’t help but smile.

After the wine was gone, she didn’t let him leave. Oliver stayed, going with her to bed and keeping her close all night.

In the morning, he woke Felicity up by kissing her senseless. He told her that either of them could get hurt any day, and that was their choice of living this life. But that he also chooses not to spend another second away from her.

Felicity agreed, wholeheartedly, and straddled his hips again. But unlike the night before, she did kiss him this time. They were late for work that morning.

The next day, Oliver got Felicity six boxes of wine, labeled like the ones from Roy. She left one of the boxes in the Foundry, for emergencies. Roy laughed his ass off.


	81. You're thinking too LOUD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, [metaphoricalanchor](http://metaphoricalanchor.tumblr.com/) posted this thing: _AU prompt: Person A is thinking sexually graphic or generally odd thoughts and suddenly panics and thinks “If you’re a mind reader, cough right now.” Person B coughs._  
>  Then, [wittyfelicity](http://wittyfelicity.tumblr.com) had a party in the [tags](http://wittyfelicity.tumblr.com/post/98319283725/metaphoricalanchor-au-prompt-person-a-is): _#IMAGINE THIS ABOUT OLIVER AND FELICITY#LIKE FELICITY IS HAVING A DAYDREAM AND THEN HER THOUGHTS START TO GET REALLY GRAPHIC AND OLIVER PRACTICALLY CHOKES WHEN SHE SUDDENLY THINKS#THAT#CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS THOUGH#SOMEONE NEEDS TO WRITE IT_  
> ... I took it upon myself to write the thing. Smut. THING.

It was really hard not to think about it, when Oliver was going up and down the salmon ladder, hitting the training dummy, doing pushups and crunches. All while not wearing a t-shirt and being a sweaty mess, breathing heavily and grunting every now and then.

So yes, it was impossible not to think about it. _It_ being having sex with Oliver. Which Felicity thought of. Regularly. Because Oliver never trained with a shirt on.

This time, he wasn’t wearing his usual Foundry attire, the light brown pants with pockets. No, today he was wearing a pair of dark gray sweatpants. It only took one look at his ass to make Felicity realize than Oliver wasn’t wearing underwear underneath.

So of course Felicity instantly thought of how she’d take those pants off. She thought about how she’d slowly drag her nails down his chest and abs, and push her hands in the back of the pants. She’d scratch his ass cheeks a little, at first, then she’d squeeze, hard, in sync with biting on his lower lip.

She wouldn’t take her hands out of his pants, instead using them to push Oliver’s sweats down. Then she’d probably wrap her fingers around his cock. Oliver would gasp, maybe, and Felicity knows she would enjoy hearing that. Would he moan? Maybe not, but that wouldn’t stop Felicity from trying to get that particular sound out of him.

Would he touch her? Would he run his hands down her body? Down her hips and over her breasts? Would Oliver hold her so tightly that he’d leave bruises? Would he be more interested in her ass or in her breasts?

Either way, Felicity wouldn’t let him take off her clothes. No, today, this would be about him, not about her.

So she’d jerk Oliver off, slowly at first, still kissing him. She’d move her hand up and down his length, cupping his balls and running her thumb over the head.

Felicity would tease him. She’d suck on his tongue as she’d jerk him off, making him think of a blow job but not getting on to it. Not right then, anyway.

After she’d get him hard enough, Felicity would step back. Just a step, not taking her eyes off him. She’d take off her panties, but just that. She’s wearing a short dress and a shirt today, it would be easy.

She’d just have to guide Oliver to the nearest desk. It shouldn’t be too hard. Felicity would kiss him on the way there, she honestly doesn’t think she’d ever stop kissing Oliver once she'd start. And she’d run her hands down his back, digging her fingers into tense muscles. She’d probably love the feel of skin under her fingertips.

She knows she wouldn’t avoid any of his scars. Hell, she wants to run her tongue over all of them. As they’d reach the desk, Felicity would be sure to kiss the scar Oliver has on his shoulder, the scar his mother caused, the gunshot wound that caused him to come to Felicity.

It would distract Oliver, probably. So Felicity would be able to pull up her skirt, just enough. When she’d sit on the desk, she’d easily open her legs up for him.

Felicity knows that she’d be pretty desperate by this point. But she thinks Oliver would be too. So she wouldn’t wait anymore, she’d just guide Oliver inside of her, wrapping her legs around his waist and bringing him as close as she could.

What sound would Oliver make when he’d first enter her? What sound would she make?

She’d like Oliver to take her slow at first. Steady, rhythmic. Kissing her still, with a hand around her waist, and the other on her neck. Maybe he’d kiss her neck. Maybe he’d bite and lick at her skin, leaving his mark on her. She wouldn’t take her eyes off him.

When he’d quicken his pace, Felicity would hold onto him tighter. She’d scratch his back and dig her heels into his ass.

Would he scream when he’d come? She certainly would.

Felicity wasn’t looking at Oliver anymore by this point. She wasn’t even aware of her surroundings, of what was happening in the Foundry.

Good thing nobody can read minds, she thought. Then she remembered a post on tumblr about someone being in a room full of people and thinking ‘cough if you can read my mind’.

Oliver yelped, loudly, startling her.

When Felicity turned to look at him, he was in the middle of the training mats, staring at her with wide eyes. His face was bright red, the blush going down his neck and he was bending forward, slightly.

‘Are you okay?’, Roy said, stepping closer to Oliver.

He didn’t say anything, still staring at Felicity.

Roy looked to her then, highly amused. ‘What the hell were you thinking about?’

‘What?’, Felicity breathed out, evidently confused.

Roy lifted his eyebrows then, turning towards Oliver. ‘You haven’t told her?’

‘Tell me what?’, she asked, suddenly afraid.

Roy shook his head, trying to keep from laughing. ‘When he was in Central City last week, helping Barry with that thing, he got drenched in a weird chemical. Caitlin said the effect would wear out in a couple of weeks, but until that happens, he can read minds.’

Felicity screamed, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

‘I am so sorry’, she said, mortified. ‘Oh god, I’m gonna be sick…’

She turned around and all but ran out of the Foundry.

»«

Felicity drove herself home, speeding and crying. She just fucked everything up. She knew, deep down, that Oliver would never be with her. But she still hoped.

And now, there was no hope. No chance he’ll ever think about her that way after what she did today. She objectified him and she…

She felt like she broke his trust.

Felicity is certain that he won’t want to have anything to do with her anymore. Not at the office, not in the Foundry. Nothing. Not ever.

She didn’t just loose her crush, she lost her friend.

And not just Oliver, but John and Roy and Sara. She lost everything.

She lost the sense of home the Foundry gave her.

She lost her home and she lost her family.

»«

Felicity didn’t even take off her clothes. She just threw her heels in the living room, her anger acting up. She yelled and cried, breaking vases and making a hole in the wall.

Then she ran to her bedroom, collapsing on the bed and she cried and cried and cried.

»«

Felicity ignored the banging on her front door. She knew it was Oliver, but she couldn’t talk to him or see him or… She just couldn’t.

Oliver came in through the window. He said her name, but she couldn’t even turn her head to look at him, and she couldn’t stop crying.

She heard him walk away, and all Felicity could do was curl in on herself even more.

But Oliver came back, and he sat on her bed. He said her name again, but she didn’t move. So he forcefully turned her around, until she was lying on her back on the bed. When Felicity saw his face, she cried even harder, and tried to turn around again.

Oliver growled and stopped her by putting a hand on her neck.

Then he did something that stunned Felicity into silence. He forcefully kept her face turned towards him, and he started wiping her face with a washcloth.

‘Would you please stop crying?’, he said softly, but she could hear that he was amused. ‘So that we can have an adult conversation. Like normal adults do.’

‘I am so sorry’, she breathed out, grabbing his wrist and stopping him from further cleaning her face.

‘Don’t be’, Oliver shook his head. ‘It was nice.’

‘Nice?’, she screeched. ‘It was disrespectful and objectifying and so rude and-‘

‘And nice’, he interrupted her, smirking. ‘It’s nice knowing I’m not the only one having trouble focusing when you’re in the room.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped. ‘What?’

Oliver shook his head, looking around her bedroom and throwing the washcloth into the open door to her bathroom. He toed up his shoes and crawled over her body, sitting on his side next to her, resting his head on her shoulder. He put a hand around her waist and threw one of his legs over hers.

Felicity couldn’t move. She was barely breathing. She tried to keep her thoughts in check, knowing that he could read them, and that wasn’t hard, because all she could think of was _please don’t leave me_.

‘I start my day’, Oliver said, ‘with praying to whatever god listens that you don’t wear that red dress, with the triangle cut on the chest. Because every time you wear that, I either have to take a very cold shower during the day, or I jerk off like crazy before going to bed.’

Felicity squealed. She closed her eyes, and Oliver tightened his hold on her.

‘It’s nice knowing that the feeling is mutual’, he smirked. ‘That you want to fuck me to exhaustion too.’

‘Jesus Christ’, Felicity yelled, trying to push him away.

Oliver didn’t let her. She struggled, but he quickly lowered himself on top of her, pinning her easily. He was heavy, but she actually enjoyed the press of his weight on top of her.

‘Good to know’, he smirked.

‘Oh my god’, Felicity groaned, trying to hide her face in the crook of his neck.

It made him chuckle.

‘Felicity’, he said softly, putting a hand on her neck again, forcing her to open her eyes.

‘There is nothing I want more right now, than to make love to you.’, he whispered, smiling. ‘But I can still read your mind, and that doesn’t feel fair. So I’m going to let you go now, and you’re going to change into pajamas. Then we’ll sleep, just sleep, and I’ll be holding you all night and in the morning, you will be making me coffee, because I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to work a kettle.’

‘Holy shit’, Felicity wheezed out.

Oliver snorted. ‘Pajamas, Felicity.’

She was quick to oblige.

»«

Oliver was half asleep when she came out of the bathroom, shirtless, again, but under the covers. Felicity was singing Disney songs in her head as she joined him in bed, making him snort.

But, true to his word, he did hold her all night. She made coffee in the morning, and they were late to the office, because they lost track of time while they kissed in her kitchen.

»«

They weren’t in the Foundry when they had sex for the first time. They were in Felicity’s bedroom.

But Oliver made sure to fuck her on the vanity, the second time around, doing his best to recreate the way Felicity pictured it in the Foundry.

He didn’t scream when he came, he just groaned her name. Felicity did scream, though. Much to his pleasure.


	82. Felicity and Slade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Hi! Just wondering if you could write a felicity saves Slade kinda thing?_

Oliver’s hand trembled on his bow. The arrow was aimed at Slade’s chest, even though the rope was keeping him pinned to the pillar.

He was talking, but Oliver wasn’t listening to him, not anymore. His friend died a long time ago, and this monster that stood in front of him had nothing of Slade left in him.

But because of the respect Oliver once held for Slade, he was ready to shoot the arrow. Shoot to kill.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for the briefest of moments, flashes of his best moments with Slade on the island passing through his mind. There weren’t many, but Oliver knew he will never forget them, and he knew he would have never survived the island if it wasn’t for Slade.

With that thought in mind, he opened his eyes and made sure his hands stopped trembling. He didn’t want to miss.

Oliver pulled the arrow back another centimeter, and just as he was about to release the arrow, he heard the sound of heels clicking on the pavement.

He recognized Felicity even before she called out his name.

‘Stop!’, she yelled, and she was close, Oliver figured. He didn’t have the strength to turn around and look at her. So he kept looking at Slade, who stopped talking, regarding Felicity now with rage in his eyes.

‘Don’t do it’, Felicity pleaded. ‘Don’t kill him.’

Her voice cracked, and it broke Oliver’s heart. Not for the first time that night, Felicity was crying and it was breaking his heart.

‘I have to’, he whispered.

‘You don’t’, Felicity insisted, taking a few steps towards him. He heard her heels getting closer.

‘You made a promise’, she continued. ‘You made a promise to Tommy, that you wouldn’t be a killer anymore.’

Oliver closed his eyes, trying his best not to start crying. He wasn’t very successful.

When he opened his eyes, Felicity was by his side, looking up at him with big, wide eyes. She still had vague traces of makeup left under her eyes, her hair was a mess, most of it having fallen from her pony tail, and her lip was bleeding, slightly, marks of her teeth still visible.

She put a hand on his left arm, the one that was holding the bow. Felicity squeezed gently, but didn’t let go as she started talking again.

‘You promised Tommy, Oliver’, she said gently. ‘You already broke that promise before-‘

‘I had to’, Oliver interrupted, locking eyes with her.

‘I know’, she nodded, ‘You had to kill the Count, but you don’t have to kill Slade now.’

‘Do it’, Slade’s voice came through. It was cold and detached, and it made Felicity shiver, closing her eyes.

‘Do it! Kill me, kid’, he spat out. ‘I made you what you are-‘

‘No’, Felicity roared, turning around to face Slade, standing at Oliver’s side. She fisted her hand into the back of his jacket and Oliver could almost feel the anger radiating off her.

‘You made him into a killer’, she said, calmer than before, but with conviction. ‘But he’s not a killer, not anymore. He’s a hero.’

Felicity turned back to Oliver, then, putting her hand over his, over where his fingers were tightened around his bow.

‘You’re a hero, Oliver. Don’t do this, please.’

She was crying. He wasn’t doing any better.

But he believed her.

Felicity believed in him, and after everything he put her through this night, disappointing her was the very last thing he wanted to do.

So Oliver threw his bow and arrow to the side. Felicity stepped right in front of him, smiling softly even if she was still crying, and gently ran her fingers down his cheeks, wiping away his tears.

‘What now?’, he whispered.

‘Now I call Waller and use my loud voice to get him off our hands.’

‘Okay’, was all Oliver was able to say.

But it didn’t matter, because the next second, Felicity’s arms were around his neck, holding onto him tightly. But, unlike the embrace they shared a few hours before, in the clock tower, this time Oliver didn’t hesitate in hugging her back.

‘How sweet’, Slade’s annoyed voice startled both of them.

Felicity didn’t pull away right away, but instead she held onto Oliver tighter for a few more seconds, growling. It was a weird noise to hear coming from her, but there was no mistaken the anger and frustration in it.

When she did pull away, Felicity grabbed the bow from the ground, and marched down to Slade, not stopping until she swung the bow, hard, kicking him in the head, rendering him unconscious. 

Oliver’s jaw dropped at the sudden display of violence, put he felt a flash of pride running through him.

Felicity turned around, blushing. ‘I may have overreacted.’, she whispered.

Oliver just hugged her again.


	83. Anna Smoak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anon asked: _Hello hello :) I was wondering if I could prompt you? Olicity's kid visits from the future? Makes them guess who's felicity's baby daddy? :)_

They were in the Foundry, early one Saturday morning. Felicity, Oliver and Roy. The men were training, supposedly, but from Felicity’s point of view, it looked like they were playing. Laughing and teasing and shoving each other playfully.

It was a nice sight to see, and Felicity was watching them with a fond smile on her face, basking in the chill homey atmosphere that surrounded her. She was sitting in her computer chair, the monitors long forgotten behind her, drinking a cup of hot tea.

Then, a young woman appeared in the Foundry, right in front of her. She just appeared, in a blink of an eye.

Felicity screamed, dropping the cup she was holding. Next thing she knew, Oliver had a hand around the woman’s throat and Roy was pointing a gun at her chest.

‘Oh, wow, you’re strong’, the woman wheezed out, looking up at Oliver with wide eyes.

Felicity took a second to look at her. She couldn’t be more that 18 years old. She was tall and slim, with light brown hair that was pinned in a messy bun. Felicity could see a few bright pink streaks through it. Her eyes were bright blue, her lips were on the thinner side, but tinted orange. She was wearing a short jeans skirt, a Spiderman t-shirt and red converses.

She looked familiar, somehow, and it made Felicity get up from her chair and take a few steps forward.

‘Who are you?’, Oliver growled.

‘And how did you get in here?’, Roy added.

‘I’m not armed’, the teenager raised an eyebrow, not taking her eyes off Oliver. ‘I’ll tell you, if you let me go.’

Oliver didn’t move.

‘Dude’, she whined, making everybody pause. ‘I’m not armed, where would I even hide a gun?’

‘She’s got a point’, Roy said, staring at her bare legs.

‘Dude!’, she yelped. ‘Do not objectify me!’

Roy blinked. ‘Sorry?’.

But he lowered the gun, and Oliver reluctantly let go of her. He stepped away until he was sitting in front of Felicity, and that didn’t go unnoticed, neither to Felicity, nor the young woman. Who giggled.

‘I’ll ask again’, Oliver said calmly and sharp. ‘Who are you and how did you get in here?’

‘My name is Anna’, she smiled. ‘Anna Smoak.’

The men turned to Felicity. Who was gaping. ‘I don’t know any Anna Smoak.’

‘Not yet you don’t’, Anna grinned. ‘I’m your daughter.’

Roy’s jaw dropped and Oliver frowned, both of them not taking their eyes from Felicity.

‘No’, she frantically shook her head. ‘Nuh-uh, I don’t have a daughter, I’m not old enough to have a daughter, are you kidding me? No, you’re too old to be my daughter.’

‘You don’t have a daughter _yet_ ’, Anna kept grinning.

‘My patience is running out’, Oliver said, taking a threatening step forward. ‘Explain.’

‘Time travel is a thing that exists in the future’, Anna shrugged.

‘That’s not possible’, Felicity said, slowly.

‘It’s not possible now. In 2014, is it? It will be possible in 23 years.’

‘Are you crazy?’, Roy asked her in the most straight forward voice.

Anna laughed. ‘Nope.’

‘Prove it.’, Oliver challenged.

‘Well’, she smiled. ‘I know what you plan on doing later tonight. And I know that you’ve been practicing for two days.’

Oliver took a step back, the tip of his ears going red.

‘How?’, he growled.

‘Because you told me. You even remembered the exact date, that’s adorable.’, she cooed.

‘I don’t believe you’, Oliver shook his head.

Anna hummed. ‘Italian is better than Chinese, definitely. And you should wear the gray suit, not the dark blue one.’

Oliver spluttered, looking with wide eyes at Felicity.

She sighed. ‘If I ask, would you answer?’

‘Not right now, no.’, Oliver was quick to nod.

Felicity just shook her head and took a step towards Anna.

‘Ok, so let’s assume you really are my daughter. Why are you here?’

Anna just giggled, excitedly, and then she jumped on Felicity, hugging her tightly.

Felicity froze, but Anna didn’t seem to mind. When she pulled away, she was smiling.

‘Sorry, sorry, but I just… I never saw you this young, you know? You’re so beautiful and pretty and you’re in the Foundry, I never got to see this place.’

She turned around, then, eyes fixing on the glass cases that held Oliver and Roy’s hoods.

‘So cool’, Anna breathed out, looking at the cases with wide eyes. ‘And so hot, jesus. I don’t understand how you guys don’t have all the women falling at your feet. With the leather and the tight pants and-‘

‘Anna’, Felicity interrupted her gently.

‘Sorry’, she shook her head. ‘I have ADHD, it still acts up a bit. What was I saying?’

‘You were explaining why you’re here.’

‘Right’, she nodded. ‘I know you don’t believe this’, she smiled up at Felicity. ‘You’re inclined to, because I have your eyes and your tendency to babble about inappropriate things. And because I know things, like about the Foundry and Team Arrow, and about how Grandma Donna used to sing you showtunes to get you to sleep when you were little.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped. It made Anna grin.

‘Now you believe me.’

‘Oh my god’, Felicity wheezed out, taking a step backwards. Her knees went weak, but Oliver was there to put a steadying hand on her lower back.

‘I never told that to anyone’, she looked towards Oliver.

‘Not yet you didn’t’, Anna snickered.

‘You still haven’t said why you’re here’, Oliver said somewhat gently, not taking his hand off Felicity.

Anna smiled, looking at her mother. ‘I’m here because I know that things aren’t going great.’

‘We talk a lot, you and I’, she grinned. ‘You’re a great mom, and you’re my best friend. So you tell me a lot, especially about the Team Arrow era. It’s the most important part of your life, you always tell me.’

‘And I know that even if you don’t have ….’, she winced, ‘you know, another Merlyn or Slade off to get you right now, things still aren’t that good.’

‘But they are’, Felicity frowned.

‘Not for you they’re not.’, Anna said gently.

‘Felicity?’, Oliver asked, concerned.

‘It’s nothing’, she turned to him. ‘Really, I’m fine.’

‘You’re not’, Anna sighed. ‘But you’re going to be. Soon, hopefully’, she grinned, her eyes skipping to Oliver.

Felicity sighed. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I know you don’t’, Anna grabbed a hold of her hand, squeezing it. ‘A lot of things are coming your way. Bad things, and good things. But mom, you’re in over your head.’

She ignored the way Felicity flinched when she addressed her with ‘mom’, and she went on, grinning all the while.

‘You’ll get pass the bad things, like you always do. They’ll leave scars, but you’ll just use them for character development’, she grinned cheekily.

‘But all the bad things, they’ll cover up the good things. You won’t … realize that they’re good things, as they happen to you. And 25 years in the future, that’ll be your only regret. So I’m here to tell you… to… not do that.’

‘How…’, Felicity tried. ‘Butterfly effect.’

Anna blinked. ‘Doesn’t matter’, she shook her head. ‘Not really.’

‘What’s a butterfly effect?’, Roy frowned.

It was Anna who explained. ‘You can’t go back in time, because you might step on a butterfly and it will change the course of the future. But because you’re back in time, that future is your present.’

‘Uh…’, Roy narrowed his eyes.

‘You can’t go back in time and kill your grandparents’, Felicity tried a different approach, ‘because then your parents won’t be born, and you won’t be born.’

‘That… makes sense’, Roy said slowly.

‘So why are you telling her this?’, Oliver frowned.

‘Because we all agreed it doesn’t matter that much.’, she looked towards Felicity. ‘It won’t change your actions, just the way you think.’

‘We?’, Oliver asked, before Felicity got to answer.

‘We.’, Anna raised an eyebrow at him. ‘I wanted to go back in time and crash your party. Of course I asked if you were gonna kill me on sight.’

Oliver just blinked.

‘Huh’, Roy said, reverently. ‘You’re still alive in 25 years.’

Anna puffed. ‘You all are, Uncle Roy’. He spluttered at that, but she ignored him, turning towards Felicity and Oliver again, narrowing her eyes.

‘Don’t let that get to your head, though. You’re not invincible. Time can be rewritten.’

Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘Did I make you watch Doctor Who or did you watch it because you wanted to?’

Anna grinned. ‘Both.’

‘I feel like nobody’s asking the important question here’, Roy said, somewhat sharply, making everybody turn towards him.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Who’s your dad?’

Felicity felt her kneed buckle again, but Oliver was still holding her up, as Anna laughed.

‘I can’t tell you that, it would ruin all the fun you’re gonna have.’, she grinned at Felicity. ‘But I will tell you that you’re both amazing parents and that I have never met two people more in love than you two are. And I know Barry and Iris.’

Felicity yelped.

‘Oops’, Anna giggled. ‘Don’t tell him I said that. It’s gonna take them a while, but they’ll get there. As will you.’

‘I need a drink’, Felicity said, surprising everyone. Except Anna, who laughed.

‘My work here is done. I should go back, you’re probably worried.’

‘I…’, Felicity tried. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘How about you tell me I’m allowed to get my lip pierced?’, Anna batted her eyelashes, making Roy and Oliver both snort.

Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘How old are you?’

’17 next month.’

‘I got my piercing when I was 18.’

‘And your tattoo when you were 16’, Felicity raised an eyebrow.

‘You have a tattoo?’, Oliver asked, doubtful.

Felicity groaned. ‘Just go. Please, just go before you release any other Smoak state secrets.’

Anna hugged her again. Tightly, rubbing their cheeks together. ‘Everything’s gonna be okay, mom. Just wait and see.’

Felicity didn’t manage to say anything, but she did kiss her cheek.

Anna then pounced on Oliver, wrapping her arms around his waist and cracking her neck to kiss his cheek. She whispered something in his ear, something that made Oliver’s ears turn red again, but Felicity didn’t hear it. When Anna stepped to Roy, he took a step backwards. Anna stuck her tongue out and ruffled his hair, much to his indignation.

She then took a few steps back, grinning at them all.

‘I’m sorry I missed Uncle John, but he’s gonna call you any minute now from the hospital.’

‘The baby’s coming?’, Felicity’s eyes grew wide.

‘Yup!’, Anna grinned. ‘Have fun with that.’

Then she pushed a few buttons on her phone and she was gone. Just like she arrived, in the blink of an eye.

They were all silent for a few seconds, until Felicity turned towards Oliver.

‘Did that just happen?’

‘Yeah.’, his voice cracked. ‘She had your eyes.’

 _And your lips_ , Felicity thought, but she didn’t say it out loud.

Oliver’s phone rang, and he frowned as he made his way towards the desk. ‘It’s Digg’, he breathed out, eyes wide.

Felicity didn’t need Oliver to put the phone on speaker to hear John yelling about Lyla and labor. She yelped, excitedly, and rushed to pick up her things. Roy did the same, as Oliver tried his best to calm Digg down.

At the same time, 23 years in the future, Anna popped back in her living room. Her mom and dad were waiting for her on the couch, both of them looking nervous. Her mother rushed to her side, hugging her tightly.

‘Well?’, she asked, impatiently. ‘How did it go?’

Anna grinned. ‘You were gorgeous, and you looked so much like me, oh my god.’

‘And you, dad’, she turned toward him, ‘you had a stick up your ass and you were so flustered about asking mom out, it was adorable.’

Oliver glared, but he knew it was the truth.

‘I don’t remember it’, he frowned, looking at his wife. ‘Do you?’

‘Not really’, Felicity bit her lip. ‘I just remember something weird happening before John’s baby being born, but not what.’

‘Time travel’, Anna nodded, ‘is weird.’

‘And speaking of weird’, she leveled her dad with a look, ‘how big was your ego to actually keep your hood in a glass case?’

Oliver laughed. ‘That was your mother’s design’, he grinned, kissing her pouty face.


	84. Connor + 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [canadianheartgirl](http://canadianheartgirl.tumblr.com/) asked: _But if you are accepting them what about olicity waiting for their first child together and dealing with a jealous/insecure Connor? He would be extremely attached to Felicity and with a baby brother or sister that’s going to be “truly” hers,he would be scared to be forgotten or left behind…Of course momma!Felicity and daddy!Oliver would never make any distinction between their kids!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How old is Connor anyway? I mean, in this, he's about 10-11? Ish. Oliver found out about him when he was 7, I just assumed Connor was born right after Oliver was castaway. And that he is getting together with Felicity, like, now (start of s3). So they have been together for 4 years? Ish. Idk, wobbily timelines bug me.

Felicity shared a concerned look with Oliver. They were having dinner, and across the table from them, Connor was frowning at his plate. Even though they were having chicken nuggets, which were his favorite, he wasn’t eating. Clearly, something was wrong.

‘Hey, kiddo’, Oliver said gently, pushing Connor’s plate so he could get his attention. ‘What’s wrong?’

Connor looked up and frowned. ‘Nothing.’

‘Don’t lie to us, Connor’, Felicity said sternly, but even she could hear the concern in her voice. ‘Tell us what’s wrong and maybe we can help.’

‘I don’t wanna tell you what’s wrong.’

Felicity _saw_ Oliver’s heart breaking at that, so she reacted quickly. ‘How about aunt Thea? Or Roy?’

Connor shook his head.

‘Uncle John? Lyla, maybe?’

‘No’.

‘Sweetie’, Felicity sat up and moved around the table, crouching down so she could be at eye level with him. ‘If you’re upset about something, it’s okay to not want to talk to us about it. We would like it if you would, and you know we’d do anything to help you if we can, but it’s okay if you want to talk to someone else.’

Connor wasn’t looking at her, he was looking at her belly. She was just starting to show, but because she was wearing a tank top around the house, her belly was somewhat prominent.

‘Should you be doing that?’, Connor finally asked her. ‘Aren’t you squishing the baby by standing like that?’

Felicity felt like someone punched her in the stomach.

‘Is this about the baby?’, she breathed out.

It took a while, but Connor nodded.

Oliver moved then, picking Connor up and sitting in his chair, putting his child in his lap. The boy curled around Oliver, he was a very tactile kid, and he always let his father cuddle with him, not once saying he was too old for it.

‘Come on, kiddo.’, Oliver said softly, running a hand down his back. ‘Talk to us.’

‘You’ll get mad’.

‘Never’, Felicity was quick to assure. ‘Promise, we won’t get mad.’

Connor reached for hand then, and Felicity was quick to oblige, sitting down on the floor in front of them and crossing her feet.

‘I love you, Lis’, Connor told her.

‘And I love you’, she quickly nodded, smiling all the while.

‘But you’re not my mom.’

Felicity swallowed. ‘No, I’m not.’

‘But the baby…’, Connor frowned, ‘You are going to be his mother and daddy is going to be his father.’

‘Or her. It might be a girl’, Oliver said.

‘Not the point, dad’, Connor said sharply, making Oliver stifle a laugh.

‘So what?’, Felicity brought them back on track. ‘Does that bother you?’

‘You’ll be his mom, but you’re not mine.’

Oliver still looked confused, but Felicity understood it. Which was weird, considering she was a lonely child and Oliver wasn’t, but she always overthought things.

‘Connor’, she said gently, ‘that doesn’t mean I’ll love you less.’

Oliver stiffened, visibly, looking up at Felicity with a startled expression. She smiled and kept talking.

‘I may not be your mother by blood, and you may not call me _mom_ ’, Felicity winced, talking quicker to explain, ‘which I am completely fine with, you know that, we’ve talked about it, I would never want to take your mother’s place, I know I can’t do that. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t love you _like_ a son.’

‘And yes, the baby, he or she will be my blood, but I will love it as much as I love you. Connor, in a couple of months, I won’t be telling anybody I have a child and a half-child. I will be telling everybody that I have two children. I promise.’

Connor didn’t say anything, he just closed his eyes and cuddled closer to Oliver.

Felicity threw her husband a pointed look, mouthing ‘Thea’ at him. He blinked, but realization quickly appeared on his face.

‘I was about your age when Thea was born’, Oliver stared. ‘And I was a lot meaner than you’, he frowned. ‘I thought that my mother having another baby meant I got less presents at Christmas.’

‘Which is not a thing that will happen’, Felicity was quick to assure.

‘Of course’, Oliver smiled, winking at her and then turning back to Connor. ‘And I was upset, a lot, because I did think that my parents weren’t going to love me as much as they’ll love the baby. Until Thea was born, and I saw her.’

‘Really?’, Connor asked in a small voice.

‘Yes’, Oliver assured. ‘When they got home, mom and her, I held her for 5 hours straight. And then, the first week, I slept with her in the nursery, waking up when she cried and ignoring my parents, who were trying to get me to sleep in my bed.’

‘But it’s not the same thing’, Connor frowned.

‘Yes it is’, Oliver nodded. ‘Because Thea is my half-sister too.’

Connor frowned.

‘We have the same mother, but different fathers.’, Oliver explained.

‘I didn’t know that.’

‘It’s complicated’, Felicity supplied when it was clear that Oliver didn’t want Connor to know about Merlyn.

‘But do you think I love Thea less because my dad isn’t her dad?’, Oliver asked.

Connor shook his head. ‘You love Thea to the sun and back.’

‘I do’, Oliver grinned. ‘And it might not look like it right now, but you’ll love your baby sister or brother just as much.’

The boy turned to Felicity, then. ‘But-‘

‘Nuh-uh’, Felicity interrupted her. ‘I’ll still love you as much as I love you now, and I’m not going to love the baby more. There’s no question about it. I’m not saying that things won’t change’, she frowned. ‘Because they will, we’ll have a baby living in the house with us. A baby that is going to cry, and that’s going to need attention, because he won’t be able to take care of himself.’

Connor nodded. ‘I understand that.’

‘But that doesn’t mean’, Felicity continued, ‘that we’ll be ignoring you in favor of the baby.’

‘Not happening’, Oliver said with conviction.

‘So not happening’, Felicity agreed.

‘I missed the first 7 years of your life’, Oliver said softly into Connor’s hair. ‘I’m not gonna miss anymore.’

‘And I love you so much’, Felicity nodded, ‘I can’t even picture not watching Saturday mornings cartoons with you.’

That made Connor smile. Then, he pouted, and hid under his father’s arm. ‘Now I feel stupid.’

‘Don’t do that’, Felicity frowned and pulled him away, kissing his forehead and hugging him. ‘It’s normal to think about these things, there’s entire chapters in psych books written on it.’

Oliver glared at her over Connor’s head.

‘But’, Felicity continued hastily, ‘we’re a family and we talk about the problems we have. Right?’, she raised an eyebrow at Oliver.

‘Right.’, he agreed. ‘Thank you for agreeing to talk to us about it.’

‘That was very brave of you’, Felicity nodded. ‘And we’re sorry, if we didn’t explain everything properly.’

Connor wrinkled his nose. ‘You did. Please don’t make me have the birds and the bees talk again. Once was enough.’

The parents shared a look.

‘We didn’t have that talk with you’, Oliver said, slowly.

‘They had a doctor come to school and tell us.’, Connor was frowning. ‘It was weird and embarrassing and gross.’

Oliver had a very frightened expression on his face, it made Felicity laugh but she tried her best to keep it in.

‘So’, she winked at Connor, pushing her nose up his neck, ‘we shouldn’t be expecting you to bring home a girl any time soon? Or a boy?’

‘Ewwwww’, Connor pushed her face away, ‘Gross, Lis. Girls are gross and boys are complicated.’

Felicity laughed for an hour. Oliver just looked disturbed for the rest of the evening.


	85. visible arrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [marisadelynne](http://marisadelynne.tumblr.com/) asked: _Prompt: (Similar to "Mark My Skin with Your Mark" that you wrote) Emily Bett Rickards has an Industrial piercing and I thought it would be cute if she got rid of the plain rod one day and got an arrow. Which amuses Digg/everybody and confuses Oliver. :)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m pretty sure I’ve read something like this before. But oh well... This didn't turn out like I expected. It got away from me. Cause. Deadshot. !?

[etsy](https://www.etsy.com/listing/189615530/silver-finish-arrow-industrial-barbell?ref=shop_home_active_1)

 

‘Miss Smoak, there’s someone here to see you’, the entrance security guard told her over the phone.

‘Who?’

‘A Mister Lawton, he has a package for you.’

Felicity’s heart sank and her heart skipped a beat. She told the guard to wait and quickly made her way towards Oliver’s office.

‘Do we like Lawton now? Like, are we friends?’, she asked quickly.

‘What?’, he frowned.

‘Cause he’s downstairs and he has a package.’

Oliver blinked. ‘Deadshot has a package for me?’

‘No’, Felicity raised her eyebrows, ‘Lawton has a package for me.’

‘Digg trusts him’, Oliver said slowly after a long pause.

So Felicity sighed and told security to let him through, but to x-ray the package, just to be sure.

»»»

Lawton grinned when their eyes met.

Felicity was standing stiffly in front of her desk, nervously rubbing her hands and biting her lips. Oliver was a solid presence by her side, glaring and holding himself strong, with his arms crossed across his shoulder.

‘Mister Queen’, Lawton nodded seriously, extending his hand. Oliver didn’t take it.

It made Deadshot smirk and shake his head. ‘We didn’t get to talk a lot, you and me. I mean, you did put an arrow through my eye and then you helped John get me out of the Gulag, but we never talked.’

‘What do you want?’, Oliver grunted.

‘Nothing from you’, Lawton answered easily. ‘I don’t hold a grudge. You probably don’t care’, he snorted, ‘but know that you don’t have to fear me.’

Felicity never heard Lawton talk before, not more than a few words, anyway. She liked his accent, surprisingly. And that realization shocked her, but neither of the men noticed it, thankfully.

Oliver didn’t say anything, but he nodded, almost imperceptibly. But Deadshot saw it, and he smiled, turning to look at Felicity.

‘I wanted to thank you’, he said, his soft tone startling Felicity.

‘What ever for?’, she managed to wheeze out.

Deadshot smiled. ‘They let me call Zoe, once a week. She told me about the weird blonde lady with bright pink lips that talked too much and got her’, his voice turned high-pitched and mocking, ‘a Wii and Just Dance and Sports and Karaoke and a bunch of story books and a pretty red dress.’

Felicity didn’t find it in her to say anything. She didn’t look away from Lawton, though, and she did her best to ignore the weird way Oliver was looking at her.

She and Lawton looked at each other for a while, and it was him who finally looked down.

‘I don’t get you.’

‘My father left us when I was young’, the words tumbled out in rapid succession before she could stop then. ‘It’s different, I know that, because you still take care of her, however you can. But his absence scarred me and I know a bunch of games won’t help her, but she’s a lovely child and she deserves that small bit of happiness that comes along with a Wii.’

Deadshot was staring, a storm of emotions visible in his eye. Felicity couldn’t read him that well, but the anger of his next words was evident.

‘I don’t understand you. You told her that I was a good man and that I’ll always take care of her.’

Felicity sighed and absently put a hand on Oliver’s arm, because she sensed him going tense because of the tone Lawton used.

‘I didn’t lie’, she said with conviction.

Deadshot reared back at that. Felicity smiled at the sight of a trained assassin cowering under her gaze.

‘You surprised John.’, she said softly, frowning as she tried to arrange her thoughts. ‘He has this… thing, where he changes people, makes them better.’, she absently squeezed Oliver’s arm, taking her hand off afterwards.

‘He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it’, she continued, ‘but he realizes when it happens. John trusts you, and after stopping Waller during Slade’s attack, he felt like he owed you.’

Felicity took a deep breath and shook her head. ‘I didn’t do this for you. Because I’m still judging you, because you left Zoe, and that sucks. A lot. I don’t know the story, I don’t know your reasoning, but I don’t care, because _nothing_ is worse in my books, than a child growing up without a parent. And you probably don’t care about my opinion anyway.’

She sighed. ‘I did it for John and for Zoe. And it’s not much, not really.’, she shrugged. ‘Keeping an eye out for her school and her mom, it’s no big deal.’

Lawton was staring at her. His lips were pressed together, his eye was glossy and his jaw was clenched. Felicity shrugged again.

‘You are something else’, he finally said, slowly, amusement seeping through. ‘Waller calls you dangerous and Agent Michaels calls you _sunshine_.’

Felicity snorted at that.

‘They’re both right’, Oliver said, easily. Felicity didn’t look at him, but Lawton did, for a long time.

Then he sighed and shook his head, turning back to Felicity.

‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t mention it.’, she quickly shook her head. ‘Really, don’t. Waller might get twitchy.’

Lawton snorted and reached into a pocket of his jacket. Oliver tensed beside her, but he calmed down when he saw Deadshot pulling out a small pink package. There was a card too, twice as big as the box itself, and they were tied together with a gold ribbon.

Felicity took them, weary. ‘Is there a bomb in it?’

Deadshot laughed out loud at that. ‘Sure’, he snickered, ‘cause that’s what I usually do to people that help me.’

She raised an eyebrow.

‘It’s not much’, he shook his head. ‘But things happen, you know? You’re walking down town with a bomb in your head, looking for information for your boss and your eyes just land on something. And it reminds you of someone, instantly, someone you never actually thought of before, and you just have to buy it.’

Felicity blinked. ‘You shouldn’t have.’

He smiled. ‘Don’t mention it.’

Lawton shook his head again, gave Oliver a curt nod and hesitated, but in the end he kissed Felicity’s cheek. Oliver had a mini heart-attack next to her, by the looks of things, but he didn’t say anything.

‘I’ll let you get back to your work day.’, Lawton nodded and started walking backwards. ‘I’d say hope to see you soon, but we really don’t want that, considering our line of work.’

Felicity and Oliver took a few seconds to stand there in shocked silence, until he cleared his throat.

‘Aren’t you going to open it?’

She blinked down at the box and card in her hand and shook her head.

‘No, I’m pretty sure my brain will explode if I do that now. Later.’

Oliver didn’t say anything more, about the package or about Deadshot for the rest of the day. But later, in the Foundry, he spent a long time in a hushed conversation with John. Felicity didn’t comment on it.

»»»

She opened it before she went to bed that night.

The card was simple and white, but it looked expensive, with gold flowers at the corners.

_You’ll always have an arrow in your heart. I thought you’d like one other people could see._

It wasn’t signed, but there was a circle with a cross in the middle. Felicity laughed out loud at that, because Deadshot was a ridiculous egomaniac.

Her laughter died when she opened the box and saw the small silver arrow inside of it. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was an industrial piercing.

Felicity loved it, instantly. She put it on the next morning.

»»»

She felt weird about it. Exposed, somehow. It was silly, Felicity realized it, but she still kept her hair down for the next couple of days. Just a few days. When she felt stupid enough for thinking it, Felicity went back to her usual pony-tail.

»»»

Roy was the first one to notice it.

He was in a good mood one evening, for no apparent reason. She had just told him something very offensive and vaguely sexual, but Roy had just laughed, and kissed her cheek.

But he froze there, for a bit, with his lips pressing on her skin. Roy backed away, slowly, staring at something.

Then, he leveled her with a look. ‘Nice earring.’

Felicity froze, but she saw the challenge in his eyes, and she didn’t back down. So she stared him dead in the eye and grinned.

‘Thank you, Deadshot gave it to me.’

Roy’s jaw dropped, as Diggle made his way towards then, a deep frown between his eyebrows.

‘What did he give you?’

Felicity sighed and turned her head, so he could see her ear.

‘Oh’, John said after a while. ‘I… have literally nothing to say.’

‘Good’, she laughed. ‘Best to keep it that way.’

They all went back to work and the guys didn’t mention it again.

»»»

It took Oliver a long time to notice.

A week has passed since Deadshot came to QC, and this particular evening, the whole team was invited to a party Thea was throwing at the Queen manor, no reason whatsoever.

 Felicity didn’t really care, they all needed a night off.

So she put on a pair of tight black jeans, a see-through, sparkly, silver top, with a pink bra underneath and a pair of matching pink heels. Felicity pulled up her hair in a messy bun, put her contacts in just so she could wear a dramatic winged eyeliner. She looked like she was in collage again, partying all night with her girlfriends. Felicity found herself not carrying in the slightest, getting in her car and driving to the mansion.

The party was already in full swing when she arrived, a lot of people she didn’t know dancing like crazy to a remix of a remix of a song she knew.

‘I’m getting too old for this’, she sighed, making her way towards the bar. The bartender wordlessly gave her a glass of red wine, she was a regular to the Queen parties and galas by now, so all the staff knew her.

Felicity also asked for tequila, and the bartender raised an eyebrow, but he did grab a shot glass.

‘Thea’s boyfriend is staring at you’, he told her as he gave her the drink. ‘I don’t think he recognizes you.’

Felicity laughed out loud. But she did head towards Roy after she drank her tequila.

Roy was staring as she approached.

‘Like what you see?’, she grinned, cheekily. ‘You really shouldn’t say yes, your girlfriend will kill you.’

That seemed to snap him out of it, because he kissed her cheek and told her she looked amazing.

‘Thank you’, she smiled sweetly. ‘Where is everyone?’

‘Thea’s all over the place, Digg and Lyla are playing pool in the basement because they’re old and I haven’t seen Oliver yet.’

‘Okay then’, she grinned, grabbing Roy’s arm and dragging him back to the bar, ordering two more tequila shots.

He looked weirdly at Felicity, but he drank with her anyway.

»»»

Half an hour later, Felicity had six tequila shots in her, a glass of wine and two cookies. She was also in the middle of the dance floor, dancing with Thea. They were goofing around, laughing, but still swinging in sync with the music, ignoring every man that tried to hit on them.

Felicity was once again startled when a pair of hands wrapped around her shoulders. She turned and was faced with a grinning Lyla.

‘My boyfriend requests your presence.’

She laughed, and Thea pushed her away playfully, so Felicity grabbed Lyla’s hand and let herself be dragged through the crowd. They ended up in the office, where Oliver and Digg were leaning against the desk.

‘Boys’, Felicity giggled, giving them both a peck on her check.

Diggle whistled, looking her up and down, and Oliver was blinking down at her rapidly.

‘Don’t judge’, Felicity pouted. ‘I haven’t been clubbing since college and is that vodka?’, she pointed to a set of four shot glasses that were on the desk.

Diggle snorted, grabbing two glasses, handing one to Lyla but keeping the second one away from Felicity’s reach.

‘Are you drunk?’

‘Barely tipsy’, she answered evenly.

‘How much have you had?’

‘Just enough to need a ride home’, Felicity grinned and grabbed the glass.

After they all drank their shot, Felicity turned around and smiled at Lyla, a smile which she returned, grabbing a hold of her hand and swinging their joined arms back and forth.

‘I’m not sure introducing you two was a good idea’, Digg frowned, managing to keep a serious expression.

Lyla slapped his chest and Felicity snickered. ‘Probably not.’, she agreed. ‘But what’s done is done.’

‘Is that an arrow?’, Oliver’s alarmed voice startled Felicity. But he was staring at the side of her face, and she realized that he meant the earring.

‘Yeah’, she smiled, turning towards Lyla. ‘From Deadshot, which was very weird. What’s his angle?’

Lyla blinked, confused. ‘I don’t actually know. He kept asking about you. Amanda and I were worried, so we pushed until he explained.’

‘And?’, Felicity raised an eyebrow.

Lyla shrugged. ‘You’re soft and inexplicable, and you’re looking after his daughter.’

Felicity sighed. ‘Oh well. Whatever, I don’t even care’, she shrugged. ‘It’s a pretty cool earring, though.’

‘Symbolical’, Lyla nodded.

‘It’s a pun’, John pointed out.

‘People will figure it out’, Oliver pointed out, a dark look on his face.

Felicity scoffed. ‘Everybody I care about already knows that I work with the Arrow. And bad people, because I know that’s what you’re thinking about, kind of run away screaming at the sight of it.’

‘What?’, Oliver blinked.

‘A few days ago two teenagers tried to steal my purse. I took a defensive stance, like you taught me’, she winked at Digg, ‘and when one of them saw the earring, he remembered that the Arrow saved me from the Count, and those pictures of me riding on your bike and the other one said he saw me by your side doing the Slade thing and yeah, they ran away screaming. It was hilarious.’

Oliver was staring at her like she grew a second head. Diggle and Lyla were sharing an amused look.

Felicity grinned and poured herself another shot of vodka.

When she went in for another one, Oliver grabbed her wrist and leveled her with a look. It was stern, but still soft.

‘I think you’ve had enough to drink.’

She pouted. ‘Okay’. Then, she maneuvered her hand around until she was holding onto Oliver’s fingers. He started dragging him away, but he resisted. She turned to look at him, and smiled playfully. ‘You either let me drink, or you dance with me.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea’, he said, slowly.

‘I don’t really care what you think right now’, Felicity replied cockily, once again putting some force into dragging him away.

Oliver followed, to the background noises of Lyla laughing and Diggle muttering about puppies.

»»»

It was weird, at first.

The dance floor was very crowded, and Oliver was very stiff. He tried to keep his distance, but that meant they both bumped into the people dancing next to them.

Felicity was having none of it. So she took his hands and guided them to her hips, wrapping an arm around his neck and holding onto his upper arm with the other.

He relaxed, gradually, making Felicity grin. They danced for a while, slower than the music around them dictated, but Felicity was still enjoying herself. Their bodies were pressed together, but it didn’t feel heated. It was platonic and fun.

And for once in her relationship with Oliver, Felicity didn’t mind it at all.

‘I hate this music’, he finally said, leaning close to her ear so she could hear him over the loud techno beat.

She laughed. ‘We’re getting too old for this, Mister Queen.’

He froze completely, making Felicity freeze too, uncertain.

Oliver leaned forward, his nose tickling her ear lobe. ‘Don’t call me that when you’re wearing my mark.’

‘And there goes our platonic dancing’, Felicity said, before her brain could stop her.

Oliver blinked down at her for a few beats. Then, he frowned and tilted his head.

‘I don’t think there ever was anything platonic about us.’

Felicity bursted out laughing. Hysterically. She pushed her face into Oliver’s chest, and soon enough, she felt him laughing too.

When she calmed down enough, she pressed her body even closer to Oliver, bringing up both her arms around his neck.

His hands came up on her waist again, but he was frowning down at her.

‘In the spirit of non-platonic dancing’, she smiled, rolling her hips against his.

Once again, Oliver froze.

He grunted out a ‘no’, and Felicity’s whole world exploded. She tried taking a step back, but he didn’t let her.

‘No’, Oliver said again, ‘we are not starting something in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by strangers, with my sister probably recording everything we do. We don’t start something, unless we can finish it.’

There were a lot of emotions dancing around on his face, but Felicity couldn’t get pass the desire and excitement.

So she swallowed hard and lightly ran her fingers through his hair.

‘I think I had too much to drink’, she pouted, exaggerating the words. ‘You should offer me a bed and make sure I don’t get sick.’

Oliver blinked. ‘Now?’, he asked incredulously.

She sighed, pushing up to lightly press her lips to his. ‘Aren’t you sick of waiting?’

»»»

Till this day, Felicity has no idea how she managed to keep up with Oliver, to run up the stairs to his bedroom.

She doesn’t know where her pink bra is either. They couldn’t find it in the morning.

»»»

They see Lawton two weeks later, when Amanda wants Team Arrow to debrief her on their latest capture for the Lian-Yu prison.

Deadshot didn’t show any sign of anything when his eyes met Felicity’s, but she pointedly put a strand of hair behind her ear, drawing his attention to the arrow. He grinned. Then, he saw how Oliver was holding on to her hand, and he grinned even wider.

Lyla told him to stop, because he looked like he was having an aneurism. Felicity laughed so much she screwed up her makeup.


	86. The Babble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _how about oliver finding out that felicity being inappropriate and babbly isn't just with him, and him getting jealous bcs innuendos were supposed to be their thing!_  
>  aka three times Felicity said something inappropriate to other men, and one (or two) of the times she said it to Oliver. also featuring the locked in a closet trope.

Oliver can easily say that he is accustomed to Felicity by now. They’ve known each other for over a year now, so he doesn’t even bat an eye anymore, when she says something inappropriate or makes a lewd innuendo.

It amuses him, more often than not. And sometimes, it even pleases Oliver. He knows a lot of women are attracted to him, they always are, but there’s something about the way Felicity deals with her attraction that tickles his ego. There’s something about Felicity, he knows it. But Oliver tries not to think about it too much, because it wouldn’t be safe stepping down that path.

It works out pretty well, until Roy and Felicity become friends, until Lance finds out his secret, until they have to help Team Flash in Central City.

Until Oliver realizes that Felicity doesn’t do that only to him.

:)

Reality hit Oliver like a brick one early evening in the Foundry.

They had a night off from the Arrow, but they were still in the Foundry. Oliver was training, Felicity was doing some routine checks on her computers and Roy was just puttering around.

From his vantage point, Oliver observed that Felicity kept looking at Roy. Glancing, staring sometimes, and immediately looking away when Roy looked at her.

Roy noticed it too. He didn’t say anything for a while, but when he snapped, he marched towards her, glaring down at her.

‘What?’, he growled, making Felicity flinch.

She blushed hard, blinking up at him.

‘Do you have a hot date or something?’, she finally breathed out.

It made Roy falter. ‘What?’

‘You look amazing!’, Felicity shrieked, getting up from her chair and waving her hands around in his general direction. ‘You’re wearing a button up, for the love of god! And it brings out your eyes and those jeans make your ass look incredible. And they’re so tight, I don’t understand how your dick will still function in the morning.’

Oliver lost his balance. But they didn’t seem to notice it.

Felicity was still blushing, furiously, and Roy was staring at her with a slightly alarmed expression.

‘Sorry’, she muttered, looking away. ‘It’s not one of my goals, to make things awkward, it just happens.’

That made Roy snap out of it, and he laughed, shaking his head fondly at the blonde.

‘It’s Sin’s birthday’, he finally said, surprisingly soft. ‘I wanted to do something nice, so I’m taking her out for dinner and a stupid movie.’

Felicity cooed. Out loud.

‘It’s not a date’, Roy said, sternly.

‘Are you sure?’, she insisted, raising an eyebrow.

‘Yes’, he glared right back. ‘She made it perfectly clear.’

‘That…’, Felicity blinked, surprised. ‘That doesn’t mean you don’t want it to be a date.’

Roy kept glaring for a few moments, until he sighed and shook his head.

‘It’s not any of your business.’

‘I know’, Felicity nodded quickly. ‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t worry.’

He grumbled something under his breath, Oliver didn’t hear it. But it made Felicity giggle.

‘You should get her flowers. Girls like that.’

‘It’s Sin.’, Roy raised an eyebrow. ‘Does she look like the type of girl who likes flowers? She wears more leather than the Arrow does.’

Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘Chocolate, then. Everybody likes chocolate.’

‘Okay’, Roy sighed.

‘And you be nice to her’, Felicity said, sternly. ‘Just because she’s a strong woman doesn’t mean you don’t have to treat her nice. Hold the door open for her, pull her chair as she sits down, no means no and always use protection.’

The look on Roy’s face made Oliver laugh. They ignored him.

‘Don’t to that’, Roy finally told Felicity. ‘I really don’t need a mother figure.’

Felicity yelped. ‘I was not! Best case scenario, I can be your big sister figure.’

‘Felicity’, Roy whined. ‘Siblings don’t discuss each other’s sex life.’ He turned towards Oliver, then. ‘Right?’

Oliver frowned, amused. ‘What are you talking about? Thea doesn’t have a sex life.’

‘Exactly’, Roy turned back to Felicity, pointedly.

She raised her arms in a submissive manner. ‘Sorry, bro.’

Roy snorted. And that was the end of it.

But it left Oliver with a bitter taste in his mouth. He tried not to think about it too much.

:)

It was weird, seeing Quentin Lance in the Foundry. But it was needed, for this particular mission.

Oliver was incredibly nervous, having Lance brought in on his secret, and no matter how long Felicity and Laurel tried to ease him, he didn’t manage to calm down.

Until Lance looked at him, raised a very judgmental eyebrow, then sighed and turned towards Felicity.

‘I’ve been stupid, not seeing this, right?’

She laughed. ‘It’s understandable, sir. The things that are right under our noses are hardest to see.’

At his harsh look, she was quick to explain. ‘We’ve all been where you are. Digg was his bodyguard for weeks, I first met him when he came to me with a bullet ridden laptop, saying he spilled a latte on it, and Roy dated his sister. And don’t get me started on Laurel. We’ve all been there.’

‘Okay’, Lance sighed. ‘What do you need me to do?’

And the discussion was brought back to the mission, and some of the tension left Oliver’s shoulders.

Until Felicity got to explaining to the comm. links.

‘I have done this before, you know’, Lance told Felicity with a smirk on his lips. ‘Even with you that one time.’

‘Yeah’, she grinned, suddenly. Then, Oliver saw a spark of something cross over her features, as she turned to him with a wicked smile.

Oliver’s felt dread pulling at his stomach. ‘Don’t say it’, he screeched.

Felicity just smiled innocently and turned back to Lance. ‘I like having you inside me. And by you I mean your voice, and by me I mean my ear.’

Laurel yelped. Then, silence fell over the Foundry.

Lance didn’t even blink. ‘You’ve said that before, haven’t you?’

‘Yup’, Felicity grinned.

Lance turned to Oliver then, raising an eyebrow. He instantly became defensive, but in the end he willed himself to calm down.

‘You’ll get used to it’, he finally told the police man. ‘If you remind her to focus on the mission, she usually does.’

‘You never get bored, do you?’, Lance narrowed his eyes.

Roy snorted, and Felicity pouted.

Oliver grinned. ‘No, I don’t. And if I do, she makes me play Mario Kart.’

‘You hate that game’, Laurel said.

‘He says he hates it because he’s so bad at it’, Felicity snickered.

Lance sighed. ‘The Arrow plays Mario.’, he said, somewhat reverently.

‘The Arrow slept with both your daughters’, Felicity said, making everyone’s eyes snap back to her.

Lance just laughed. ‘Never meet your heroes.’

He started talking about the mission again, but Oliver remained frozen in place because of his words. Felicity noticed it, and she smiled softly at him and winked. When she passed by him to get to the computers, she ran her fingers down Oliver’s arm and giggled.

‘I still like having you inside me the most.’

Oliver groaned, despite the warmth he was feeling low in his stomach.

:)

Oliver was very overwhelmed, in a laboratory in Central City, with Digg and Felicity by his side, but with a lot of strangers too, avidly explaining Barry’s… condition.

When they finished explaining everything, Barry suggested they take a break, before getting down to the reason team Flash summoned team Arrow to Central City. Oliver was too tired to argue with the phrasing.

Felicity, Digg and Oliver stayed behind in the lab, with Barry and Caitlin, while the others went to get coffee and food.

‘What’s wrong?’, Barry’s concerned voice brought Oliver back to reality, and when he turned, he saw Felicity staring at Barry with wide eyes.

‘I have an inappropriate question’, she blinked.

Barry’s expression turned soft. ‘Wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.’

Felicity hesitated.

‘Go on’, he waved a hand, pointing to Caitlin. ‘I have been tested and probed so thoroughly, nothing you say will faze me anymore.’

‘Has anybody tried testing your speed in other… uhm… environments? Situations? Other than running?’

‘Like what?’, Caitlin moved to Barry’s side.

‘Like sex’, Felicity blurted out, face red and biting her lip immediately after.

Barry flushed too, and he frowned. ‘I don’t…’. Then, he tilted his head to the side. ‘Huh.’

‘Oh my god’, Caitlin muttered, looking at Barry with wide eyes.

Barry then grinned, at both of them, even if he was still blushing. ‘It doesn’t really matter, though, does it?’

‘But it’s interesting’, Felicity argued.

‘I’ll let you know’, Barry puffed out a laugh. ‘Unless you’re offering’, he raised an eyebrow.

‘No, no’, Felicity shook her head, her eyes skipping briefly to Oliver, ‘I don’t think so.’

Barry smirked.

‘I’m offering’, Caitlin said, evenly. Barry’s smirk disappeared and he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

‘For science’, she smiled.

‘No’, was all Barry said, walking away from the two women, who immediately started talking in whispered tones.

Oliver was glaring at the back of Barry’s head. He wouldn’t have noticed it, if John didn’t step in front of him, raising an amused eyebrow.

:)

The next time Felicity said something inappropriate to Oliver, it was beyond everything she has ever said before.

They were on a mission, of course they were. And things happened, they got separated from Digg and Roy, and there was a guy with a flamethrower chasing them.

It all ended up with Oliver and Felicity hiding in a supply closet. Felicity went in first, and Oliver was quick to follow, closing the door behind them, from the inside.

It was only then that he realized how small the supply closet was.

‘Your quiver is squishing my boobs’, Felicity whispered.

Oliver took a moment to take a deep breath.

‘I’m going to take it off.’, he whispered back. ‘Catch it and lower it on the ground. Slowly.’

She did that, and thankfully, it didn’t make too much noise. Oliver did the same thing with his bow, and despite his better judgment, he turned around to face Felicity.

There were grunts and yelps as he turned, elbows in stomachs and rugged breaths against skin, hands on hips and stepped on toes, but when he was finally done and facing Felicity, she smiled.

‘Hi.’

Oliver puffed. ‘Hello. Be quiet.’

‘I am’, she whispered back. ‘This wasn’t such a good idea.’

‘We’re safe.’, Oliver tried.

‘How is a wooden door keeping us safe from a flamethrower?’

‘It’s hiding our location.’

Felicity sighed, but she didn’t argue anymore. Instead, she looked down, at where Oliver was trying his best not to step on her toes, at where her breasts were brushing against Oliver’s chest with every breath she took, at where his hand was still on her hips.

‘At lease we found out that out bodies fit perfectly’, she whispered slowly, making his heart stop, and his hand tightened his hold on her hips.

But Felicity didn’t stop there.

‘The sex would be amazing too. You can bench press my weight, easily, and I am very flexible, I can put both my feet behind my head.’

When Oliver didn’t say anything, Felicity blinked up at him. She blushed, and he was sure his skin was as red as hers.

‘I…’, she tried. ‘That was the worst ever, wasn’t it?’

Oliver managed to nod.

‘I’m sorry’, she closed her eyes. ‘I did say this wasn’t such a good idea.’

‘That depends’, Oliver said a while later, when Felicity still hadn’t opened her eyes. ‘It bothered me, to realize you do your typical innuendo babble with other men too, not just me.’

Felicity opened her eyes at that.

‘Do you’, Oliver continued, slowly, ‘do you say things this bad to them too?’

She shook her head.

‘Okay’, Oliver breathed out. ‘I can work with that.’

He then dragged her towards him, until their bodies were pressed together from chest to knees. Felicity yelped, still whispering, and put her hands on some shelves to the sides, steadying herself. She was looking at him with big, wide eyes.

‘Seriously?’, she whispered, incredulously.

‘We do fit perfectly’, was all he whispered before he kissed her.


	87. take me back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [mzroalty0queenv0](http://mzroalty0queenv0.tumblr.com/) asked: _Um... could you do a one-shot where Oliver and Felicity break up, like for real, and Oliver realizes how big of a mistake that is and wins her back????_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very very very very very quick drabble. because my heart couldn't take making it longer. sorry.  
> >you will get another chapter in a few more hours though. tis a fun one.

‘I love you, Felicity. I have loved you for a long time now, even if I didn’t realize it. And that night, that one night, with you. That… You took my breath away.

Over and over again, I couldn’t breathe properly, because of your bright red dress, as bright as the smile you always save for me. And your hair, I wanted to burry my nose in it and just breathe in.

It felt right, didn’t it? I felt right. After all I’ve been through, and what _we’ve_ been through, that night, that dinner felt right. Nothing has ever felt that right for me, Felicity. And it’s you.

It’s all you.

And you made me feel light, that night. Like… like nothing was wrong and like nobody was more important than us.

And then there was fire. And you were bleeding, and limp in my arms and I still couldn’t breathe.

Because the thought of loosing you, I can’t handle that. Felicity, I … if anything happens to you, I’ll die. I won’t be able to go on, you’re everything that makes me better and without you, it’s a world I don’t want to live in.’

‘But you pushed me away, Oliver.’

‘I wanted you to be safe! I need you to be safe! I thought… I thought that would help. I thought that if we weren’t together, it would be better for you.’

‘I’ll never leave the Foundry.’

‘I know. I know, and it was stupid. I was stupid. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Felicity, because I hurt you. Pushing you away, I hurt you and I never wanted to do that. But it’s happening, and it will keep happening, I will hurt you again because ...’

‘I know that. And I’m prepared to deal with it.’

‘Please take me back. Give me one more chance. One last chance.’

‘To do what?’

‘Be with you. Properly, like you deserve. Make you happy. Love you.’

‘I need you, Oliver. But I can’t keep doing this. Back and forth, on and off. I can’t deal with that and with everything that is happening around us. With Palmer, and Arrow and … I can’t.

I just need _you,_ Oliver. Everything is easier with you by my side, but if I do this… if you do this, we. I’m not going to let you go.’

‘Me neither. I promise, Felicity, never again.’

‘Okay.’

‘I love you.’

‘I know, Oliver. I love you too. Now stop crying and come here and kiss me.’


	88. Contact Photo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver barely remembers taking the picture, but he does end up with a picture of Felicity's legs set as her contact photo on his phone. Then, Thea sees it. And Lance, and Roy, and everything goes insane after that.

inspired by this [post](http://sundown-kid.tumblr.com/post/84058018324)

Oliver barely remembers taking the picture.

They were in Paris, for work. Still, they managed to get a few days off, so of course Oliver followed Felicity to whatever sightseeing she wanted to do. They took the subway, it was easier than worrying about parking spaces and more rental cars.

Felicity was happy, it seemed. She couldn’t stop smiling and she took a million pictures. Her happiness was contagious. Even if Oliver has seen Paris before, it was a new experience, seeing it with Felicity. Seeing her excitement, and awe. It was mesmerizing.

They forgot about everything that waited for them back in Starling City for a few days. They climbed on top of the Eiffel Tower, spent endless hours in the Louvre, walked along the Seine river, and drank good wine.

A lot of wine.

One particular evening, they brought two bottles of wine and had a picnic in the park. When the food and alcohol was done, they were both giggling and laughing. Oliver wasn’t drunk, but Felicity was, and he was laughing at her, more than anything else.

When they got on the subway and Oliver’s phone rang, he fumbled with it for a while before managing to answer.

He only saw the picture when they came back to Starling, but he knew that was the night he took it. Because Felicity was wearing that short pleated skirt, with high socks and her comfy tourist shoes. She was wearing a bright pink polo shirt and Oliver remembers that he teased her endlessly, about looking like a schoolgirl.

Before realizing what he was doing, Oliver set it for Felicity’s contact photo. It brought a smile to his face every time she called.

«+»

One early morning, Oliver was having breakfast in the kitchen of the mansion, a very sleepy Thea plastered to his side, drinking her coffee.

When his phone started ringing, it was closer to Thea so she grabbed it and handed it to Oliver with a shocked expression.

He ignored it, answering his phone and smiling when Felicity started rambling about how she is going to be late for work because her upstairs neighbor flooded her bathroom.

When he finished the conversation, he turned to Thea, who was glaring.

‘Really, Ollie? Sleeping with your EA? That’s a too big of a cliché, even for you.’

Oliver blinked a couple of times.

‘You got that from that conversation?’

‘No’, Thea tilted his head. ‘From the picture.’

Oliver smiled, despite himself, making Thea frown some more.

‘I’m not sleeping with Felicity’, he finally said. ‘She’s a good friend.’

‘The picture doesn’t say that’, she raised an eyebrow.

‘We were in Paris’, Oliver shook his head. ‘We were drinking, and I took the picture accidently.’

‘That really isn’t helping your case.’

Oliver shrugged. ‘I’ve gotten used by now to people assuming that about us. And we really stopped caring. We’re friends, we’re partners, I rely on her. Gossip really doesn’t faze us anymore.’

‘Wow’, Thea breathed out. ‘Just… wow.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

‘Emotions.’, Thea nodded. ‘And feelings. You have them.’

Oliver didn’t say anything more, going back to his breakfast, but he was still smiling.

«+»

When Digg saw Felicity calling Oliver’s phone, he just stared at him, as he talked to Felicity. After Oliver hung up, Diggle leveled him with a look.

‘I feel like we should have a conversation about consent and respecting a woman, but I am way too amused to do that.’

Oliver spluttered. Digg didn’t say anything more.

«+»

When Oliver was at the Police station, filling out a statement with Officer Lance because someone tried to kidnap him, Felicity called, and of course Lance saw the picture.

Oliver spent a few minutes on the phone with Felicity, reassuring her that he was fine and that he wasn’t hurt. She tried asking why he didn’t fight the kidnappers back, but Oliver told her that he was with Lance. She understood and hung up quickly, saying that she’ll be picking him up when he’s done.

When Oliver looked up, Lance was looking at him with an odd expression.

‘What?’                                                                                                                    

‘It’s weird’, Lance says. ‘One one hand, Laurel keeps telling me that you’re not dating your EA, but on the other hand, you turn into a glob of goo when you talk to her.’

‘I do not!’, Oliver screeched, resentful.

Lance snorted. ‘Yeah you do. But it’s fine, you’re not the only one who does that.’

‘Who else?’, Oliver found himself asking.

‘The Arrow’, Lance deadpanned. ‘And Mr. Diggle, Arsenal. Hell, even _I_ feel the need to lock her inside a box and protect her from the big bad world.’

‘Good’, Oliver found himself breathing out. ‘That’s good.’

‘And while we’re on the topic’, Lance frowned, ‘I’m sure you know that if you ever hurt her, you’ll have a lot of men with a lot of weapons on your ass.’

‘I’m not dating Felicity’, Oliver said, after a beat.

‘Sure’, Lance snorted. ‘That contact picture says exactly that.’

Oliver groaned. ‘We’re friends.’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘Just friends.’

Lance was silent for a few moments. When Oliver looked up, the police man was frowning down at his phone.

‘Now I’m wondering what contact photo the Arrow has for her.’

Oliver laughed.

«+»

When Roy saw the picture, he immediately pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of Oliver’s legs. He was barefoot and wearing a pair of sweatpants, because they were training.

As Oliver was still speaking with Felicity on the phone, Roy showed him the picture he took and that he set it as Oliver’s contact photo.

He glared, but after he hung up, he did the same, taking a picture of Roy’s legs and setting it as his contact picture.

«+»

Felicity had fallen asleep one night, while her computers were working. She was on the couch, her heels still on, legs crossed on the hand rest, a comforter covering half her body.

Roy took a picture of her legs, snickering all the while.

«+»

When Diggle wordlessly took a picture of Oliver’s legs when he was up on the salmon ladder, he didn’t say anything. But he did make sure to take a picture of Digg’s legs before they left for the night.

«+»

Roy took a picture of Digg’s legs when they were training.

Diggle took a picture of Felicity’s legs when she was working at her computers, legs crossed under the chair. And Roy stood on his arms long enough for John to take an upside-down picture of his legs.

Oliver was baffled. But he was also very amused.

«+»

When Sara came around, the minute Felicity excused herself to go to the bathroom, the men were around Sara, snapping pictures of her legs.

She laughed for a while after they explained, but she joined in their game.

«+»

When Felicity took their phones to test out a new app, neither of the men thought anything of it.

Until Felicity called all their phones, simultaneously. That was the app’s purpose: Felicity would call one phone, and that phone would call another, and so on, till they would all be in a conference, even if they didn’t have their comm. links on.

‘What the hell?’, Felicity shrieked, looking at the phones lined up on her desk with wide eyes.

All the men froze around the Foundry. They shared a defeated look, but made their way to her side eventually.

Oliver’s phone had Felicity’s legs, Digg had Roy’s and Roy’s had Oliver’s.

‘What the hell?’, she shrieked, again.

‘Uh… inside joke?’, Roy tried.

‘Is that Paris?’, Felicity turned to glare at Oliver.

‘Uh huh’, he nodded, weakly.

‘I’m hurt’, she pouted after a few beats. ‘That I wasn’t included.’

But then she smiled, and started rambling about the app. So all the men thought that was the end of it.

«+»

«+»

The next morning, all of the men got a text from Felicity, a picture of her legs. She was in her elevator, Oliver realized. The text also contained a full detailed list of what she was wearing: shirt, stockings and shoes, complete with prices and where to buy them.

Roy was the only one to answer, with a very plain _what the hell_.

They got a picture every day. None of them said anything, and Felicity didn’t mention it.

«+»

One Saturday morning, when they decided on taking the day off, Felicity texted them a picture of her bare legs, toenails painted bright green, and a peak of a bright yellow swimming suit. There was a pool in the background, and the only details attached to the text were ‘very pretty swimming suit, I got it from Oliver, so it was probably expensive and unnecessary’.

Oliver was the one to get a _what the hell_ text from Roy then.

«+»

They thought that was it, that they would keep getting pictures of Felicity’s feet, and that was that.

«+»

«+»

Felicity took a picture of Diggle’s legs when he was on the training mat, pinned down by Oliver. It was incredibly unflattering.

«+»

One night, when they came back from patrol, Felicity walked into the bathroom, taking a picture of Roy’s legs as he was getting out of his suit. He yelped, and Felicity cackled, somewhat manically.

«+»

She got a picture of Oliver’s bare legs, as Digg was sewing up a particularly nasty wound on his inner thigh.

He glared, as much as he could, but Felicity just smiled innocently and got him ice packs.

«+»

One evening, Oliver got a picture of Felicity’s legs, the second one of the day. It was weird, because he noticed that she only sent it to him.

When he opened it, he almost dropped his phone.

The picture was taken using Felicity’s full body mirror, that Oliver knew was in her bedroom, so it captured a bigger part of her lower body.

She was wearing a pair of black stockings, that went half way up her thighs. They were strapped to her black panties with a pair of bright red ribbons, and she was wearing a pair of red pumps.

Oliver quickly pressed the call button.

‘Hi, Oliver’, Felicity’s sweet voice came through.

‘I think you sent that to the wrong person.’

‘Nope’, she said gleefully, ‘Definitely not’.

‘Why?’, he breathed out, after a few beats.

‘I wanted to see how long it will take you, to get from your place, to mine. Stopping by the drugstore, of course, I’m out of supplies.’

‘Supplies?’, he asked, breathlessly.

‘Condoms, Oliver.’

There was a pause, which Oliver used to remember how to breathe.

‘I’ll be right there’, he finally said, smiling when he heard her delighted laughter before closing the connection.


	89. from Russia, with love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [secretglimpses](http://secretglimpses.tumblr.com/) asked: _oliver is blackmailed to leave felicity and their baby, he can’t tell her why, in order to keep them safe from a new villain they’ve been tracking down._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why would you do this to me, why?!!

Oliver runs. He cries, and he runs.

He runs to the bank, to get out as much cash as he can.

He runs home, to get some clothes. And weapons. He manages to write a few lines for Felicity. It doesn’t feel like nearly enough, but it will make her understand.

He runs to the office, to grab the picture framed above the desk. It was taken the day his daughter was born, in the hospital. Felicity was holding the child, grinning madly at the camera. ‘Felicity and Dee’ was written in a red sharpie in one corner, in his wife's loopy handwriting. 

He cries as he runs to catch up with Anatoly at the airport, thankful that his Russian friend was just leaving the States.

He cries all the way to Russia.

+

They keep an eye on Starling news, Oliver and Anatoly both. The Police treat Oliver as missing, not as dead, as he wrote to Felicity they should. But Felicity and Dee don’t turn up dead, either.

So Oliver knows that this wasn’t for nothing. They’re safe, and that’s all that matters.

Felicity is strong. She will get through this, no matter how much Oliver’s departure hurts her.

He has to believe that in order to keep himself sane.

+

He stays with Anatoly.

Working in the back of his bar, serving drinks every now and then, always helping Anatoly with whatever Bratva issue comes up.

He rents a one bedroom apartment, that only has a bed, a desk and a small dresser, a very small bathroom, and a sink and hot plate in a corner.

He keeps busy as much as he can during the day, works himself into exhaustion at night, but Oliver always falls asleep crying.

+

Three months have passed.

Anatoly tells him that he doesn’t recognize him anymore. Oliver agrees with him.

He looks in a mirror and he doesn’t recognize the man staring back at him.

He looks the same, but his eyes are empty.

He lost his love, he lost his child, he lost his life. Even though he’s still breathing.

+

When someone knocks at his apartment door a month later, at 3 am, Oliver texts Anatoly. Then he grabs his gun from the nightstand before slowly moving to the hallway.

The door doesn’t have a peep hole. So he tells whoever is on the other side to leave. They knock again, softer this time.

Oliver opens the door and he points the gun straight at… Felicity’s face. He stops breathing.

Roy is standing to her right. And Bruce Wayne, of all people, is standing to her left.

Oliver drops the gun to the ground, his heart pumping in his throat. He’s dizzy and shocked and-

Felicity slaps him. He whimpers.

Then Roy takes a step forward, punching him. Oliver feels his nose start to bleed, but he can’t bring himself to do or say anything, still unable to take his eyes off Felicity.

Roy rolls his eyes, pushes him more into the apartment. Felicity comes in too, and Wayne follows, closing the door behind him.

Oliver feels numb, so he doesn’t fight when Roy pushes him onto the bed.

‘Where’s Dee?’, is the first thing he manages to say.

‘With Lyla and Digg’, Roy answers, not taking his eyes off Felicity. Who still hasn’t said anything.

She shakes her head and moves to the kitchen area. Oliver watches her as she putters around, grabbing a pot and boiling water. Nobody says anything.

Felicity doesn’t look at him. She just goes through the motions of making tea, because Oliver doesn’t have any coffee. She doesn’t find four cups, so she uses glasses. Wayne helps her with handing them out, putting Oliver’s glass on the floor, next to his feet.

Then, Felicity grabs a rag and wets it in what’s left of the hot water, and makes her way to Oliver. She doesn’t touch him, but she does put the rag in his hand. He pushes it to his nose, upon seeing her stern look, but it’s done mechanically.

‘You shouldn’t be here’, he finally manages to say.

Felicity sighs. ‘Because the Joker told you he’ll kill us if you don’t run.’

Oliver’s breath leaves him, all at once.

His wife shakes his head. ‘That hurt the most, you know. That you thought I wasn’t going to figure it out. That you didn’t believe we’ll find a way to stop him.’

When he doesn’t say anything, Felicity crouches down in front of him. He can’t take his eyes off her pink lips, and she must notice it, because she smiles.

‘Oliver’, she says softly. ‘Stop crying.’

He didn’t even realize he was crying.

‘You’re not safe’, he says, desperately.

Felicity groans. ‘Are you even listening to me? We stopped him.’

Oliver whimpers.

‘I figured out where you ran to the day after you left. The only reason I left you rotting in Russia!’, she yells, ‘of all places, was because we needed to get rid of that lunatic.’

‘How?’, he breathes out.

Felicity’s eyes skip to Wayne.

‘You’ve met Bruce Wayne before.’, she says. ‘I met him as Batman.’

Oliver’s jerks his head to him, then. Bruce smirks.

‘The Joker is locked away in a padded cell in Arkham.’, he nods towards Felicity. ‘We made sure he’ll never get out.’

‘Amanda helped’, Felicity added. ‘We kind of owe her a liver now, but…’

She smiles at him, and it breaks his heart, because her eyes are full of love.

‘It was worth it.’

Oliver doesn’t say anything, he can’t. He can’t breathe, he can’t stop crying and he can’t look away from Felicity.

Felicity, his wife, the love of his life, mother of his child, who sits next to him on the couch and puts a hesitant hand on his knee, making him whimper again.

‘Come home’, she says softly, the same way she did time and time again. ‘There are a lot of things you have to deal with.’

‘What cover are we going with?’, Roy asks.

Felicity throws him an amused smirk. ‘Figured we’d say he was kidnapped. When I got the ransom note, I went to the Arrow. Who helped me get my husband back.’

‘And I came along to take care of you’, Wayne says. ‘As friends do.’

‘Plausible’, Felicity nods.

When Oliver still doesn't say anything, Roy scoffs. ‘You need to come home, dude. Digg is getting really tired of wearing the hood. Barry’s been helping out every now and then, but Starling still needs the Arrow.’

‘And I need my husband’, Felicity says, forcefully. ‘My baby needs her dad. So get your head out of your ass and come home.’

‘I love you’, Oliver breathes out, making Felicity laugh.

‘Good’, she snickers. ‘Cause I love you too.’

Then, her expression turns murderous, in a blink of an eye. ‘But if you ever do this again, if you ever leave us without _wanting_ it… I’ll make your life a living hell, so much so that the 5 years away will look like an amusement park.’

‘I’m sorry’.

‘I know’, Felicity smiles. ‘I forgive you, we all do, but now you need to get cleaned up, pack up your things, and come home. I’m pretty sure Lyla’s going crazy with two kids around.’

Oliver smiles then, at the mention of his daughter.

‘I’ll show you pictures on the plane’, Felicity smiles. ‘She’s not talking yet, but boy is she babbling.’

‘Like mother, like daughter’, Roy mumbles, making Oliver laugh.

But he does get off the couch and heads over to Wayne, offering his hand. They shake, and Oliver thanks him.

‘You would have done the same. I’m pretty sure you will have to, at some point.’

Oliver doesn’t say anything more, but he does nod.

When he goes towards Roy, he can’t help but shake his head at the younger man’s dumb grin. But he does hug him, blood and all, because Roy doesn’t seem to care.

‘Don’t punch me again’, he says sternly as he pulls away.

‘You totally deserved that.’, Roy raises an eyebrow, and Oliver gives him that.

He cleans off quickly, and he starts grabbing things from around his apartment. He doesn’t have much, but he does take his guns, and the picture he left Starling with, a clean set of clothes and his phone.

When Anatoly barges in, with three other men, all with their guns drawn, Oliver just patiently tells him to stand down.

Anatoly turns to Felicity then. ‘Thank the gods’, he breathes out, relieved. He grabs a hold of her arms and hugs her quickly, ignoring her shocked reaction.

‘You’ll take him home, yes?’

It snaps Felicity out of it, and she laughs, hugging him back. ‘Yes. Thank you for taking care of him.’

When she pulls away, she levels Anatoly with a stern look. ‘This will not be happening again.’

‘Good’, the Russian says with feeling.

He hugs Oliver too, bidding him goodbye. Wayne and Roy step outside of the apartment along with the Russians, leaving Felicity and Oliver alone.

She hugs him tightly, kissing him passionately. He clings to her, like a drowning man clings for air. She is his air, and he’s been deprived of it for four months.

‘I love you’, he breathes into her lips. ‘I love you so much.’

She just kisses him some more.

+

Oliver spends the flight back to Starling in Felicity’s arms, laughing his ass off at Roy and Bruce playing Poker.

+

They go straight to Digg’s from the airport.

When he opens the door, he sighs, heavily. ‘I’d punch you, but I’m sure Roy took care of that.’

Oliver just hugs him.

+

He starts crying when he holds Dee. She’s changed so much, in four months, and he hates the world for missing it.

Felicity understands him, even if he didn’t say anything, because she smiles.

‘You’ll be here for the rest of it. Plus, you’ll be here the second time around.’

Oliver almost drops his daughter. Felicity laughs, patting her belly.

‘Really now, you get me pregnant and then ran away. What a horrible thing to do.’

Oliver cries harder, but Felicity holds him, him and their daughter both, and everything feels good.

He’s home, and he’s happy.

And his daughter is spitting all over his shirt, but that’s okay. 


	90. bite and dine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: Arrow prompt: _Oliver gives Felicity a hickey._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not what you expect! Here's a quicky, cause I had a bad day ^.^

He’s in pain. A lot of pain.

He has three arrows sticking from his side, a couple of broken ribs, for sure, and he can’t even lie down on the metal table. He tried, and he cried out in pain. So he isn’t lying down.

Felicity is keeping him up into a sitting position. She’s standing by his side, arms around his shoulders, and Oliver’s is slumping into her chest, face buried in the crook of her neck.

She’s petting his hair, kissing his forehead ever so often, and it brings him some comfort.

But Oliver still screams when Diggle pulls out the first arrow.

Felicity holds him tighter.

When Diggle pulls out the second arrow, Oliver bites on Felicity’s neck. She doesn’t say one word.

When Diggle pulls out the third arrow, Oliver passes out.

→

He wakes up hours later, and everything hurts. But Diggle tells him that he just dodged a major bullet, that he’ll be fine. In pain for a couple of weeks, but that he will recover.

‘Where’s Felicity?’, he asks after he manages to sit up.

‘She was exhausted.’, Diggle says. ‘Do you remember?’, he asks after a beat.

‘Remember what?’, Oliver frowns. ‘I barely remember getting to you.’

‘Nevermind, man’, John shakes his head. ‘Let’s get you home, you’re not getting out of bed for the next 24 hours.’

Oliver doesn’t argue.

→

The next time Oliver sees Felicity, she’s wearing a scarf. It’s the middle of summer, they are in a building, at the office, and she’s wearing a scarf.

He finds it weird, but he doesn’t say anything.

→

When they get to the Foundry later that day, Felicity takes her scarf off and Oliver freezes.

There’s a giant hickey on Felicity’s neck. It’s purple and red, and it looks painful, the teeth marks still visible.

‘It’s okay’, Felicity pats his shoulder. ‘It’ll go away eventually, I’ll be able to cover it with makeup in a few days.’

‘It’s not okay!’, Oliver all but yells. ‘Look, I’m trying not to interfere in your personal life, and it’s working, considering I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend.’ His voice breaks a little over those words, but he soldiers on. ‘But that’, he points a finger, ‘is not okay. That is abuse. Even if you were willing at the moment, it’s very close to your carotid artery and he could have gotten you majorly hurt.’

Felicity is blinking up at him fast, a confused frown between her eyebrows.

‘You did this’, she says slowly, making Oliver falter. ‘When you were in pain, and Digg was getting out the arrows.’

Oliver’s whole world crumbles beneath his feet, his breath hitches and there's a cold feeling running down his back.

‘It’s okay’, she says, reassuringly. ‘You didn’t hurt me.’

He doesn’t even realize what he’s doing, but Oliver wraps his hands around Felicity and hugs her tightly, as tight as he can without hurting her.

‘I’m sorry’, he breathes into her hair, ‘I am so sorry.’

She hugs him back, fisting her hands into his shirt. ‘I’m okay, Oliver. It’s nothing.’

‘I could have hurt you’.

‘But you didn’t.’, Felicity says, calmly. ‘You were in pain and I was there. It just happened, it’s perfectly okay.’

He doesn’t let go.

‘It’s not the first bad hickey I had to live with’, she tries to sound cheeky, but it makes Oliver growl lowly in his chest.

Possessiveness, his mind supplies, that was a perfect example of possessiveness, which he had no right to have towards Felicity.

So he pulls away.

‘I’m sorry.’

Felicity hums, watching him with a critical eye. Then, she pushes up on her toes and kisses his cheek, smiling when she wipes away the lipstick she left on his skin.

‘You can apologize with dinner.’

‘Okay’, he’s quick to agree, not really realizing what he’s agreeing to.

‘Like a date’, she explains after a beat, making Oliver’s eyes grow wide.

He still agrees to it. It makes Felicity grin throughout the entire evening.

→

The next time Oliver gives Felicity a hickey, it’s very much intentional. The one on her neck disappeared, but Oliver feels like she should always have his mark on her.

So he gives her a hickey on her thigh.

Felicity retaliates by leaver her mark on his bicep. It’s a weird place, Oliver thinks at the time. But the next day, she keeps touching him there. To the outside world, it’s completely innocent, but it sends a hot shiver down his spine every time.

→

They never really stop giving each other hickeys. But they do grow more creative about their placements.


	91. waking up in Vegas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Olicity: will power drug + wedding chapel in vegas + well lots of other stuff_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uh. The way I'm writing Pink on Green now is: **completely ignoring what's happening in season three**. I'll let you know if that changes :)

Felicity wakes up in a too soft bed. Naked. With Oliver snoring, his also naked body plastered over hers.

She screams.

Oliver wakes up instantly. And he falls off the bed.

When she stops screaming, they just stand there for a while. Looking at each other, frozen in shock.

Oliver looks down to her body first. He then flushes a deep red and looks up to the ceiling, blinking fast. Of course this makes Felicity look down his body. She also blushes furiously, but manages to cover herself with a sheet and throw him a pillow.

She opens her mouth to say something, but a loud banging stops her.

It’s the door, she realizes, about the same time she remembers that they’re in Vegas, in the hotel suite they rented.

‘Open the door, or so help me!’, Digg’s loud voice comes through, and Felicity shivers at his low, angry tone. She never heard him so mad before.

Oliver stretches, getting a hand under the bed and pulling out a pair of his sweatpants. Felicity gulps and closes her eyes as he puts them on.

‘Get dressed’, he grunts out. ‘I’ll talk to Digg.’

He closes the door behind him, which Felicity is very grateful for. She takes a deep breath and wills her heart to slow down, but when she realizes that Oliver and John are not talking, Felicity quickly gets dressed, grateful that she had a pair of yoga pants and a jumper lying around.

When she goes to the living room, Diggle is glaring at Oliver, violently, with his hands crossed over his chest and Felicity could swear that there’s steam coming out of his ears.

Even Oliver looks cornered.

‘Morning, John’, she says cautiously. ‘What’s up?’

He turns his glare to her, and Felicity whimpers. Audibly. It doesn’t hold John down.

‘What the hell happened last night?’, he all but hisses. 

‘Uh’, Felicity blinks, turning to Oliver. ‘I remember getting dinner.’

‘And then’, he nods, ‘we went to that club and we met your drag friends.’

‘Yeah’, she blinks. ‘I remember that.’

‘Do you remember anything else?’, John raises an eyebrow.

They both blink.

‘We may have had too much to drink’, Felicity whispers, her whole body flinching.

‘We definitely had too much to drink’, Oliver takes a small step towards her.

Diggle groans, violently, scrubbing at his face. ‘Look at your hands’, he finally sighs.

Felicity frown at him, but Oliver does look down at his hands.

‘Felicity!’, he says, urgently. ‘Why am I wearing a wedding ring?’

And just like that, everything comes back to Felicity’s mind. The tequila shots with the drag queens, kissing Oliver in the bathroom of the club, walking down the street, Oliver stopping her in front of a wedding chapel and telling her that he doesn’t want to live his life with anybody else.

Felicity screams.

Then, she remembers actually getting married, signing the papers, saying her vows with words like ‘hero’ and ‘home’, Oliver’s vows with ‘remarkable’ and ‘light’, stumbling together back to the hotel, kissing and taking off their clothes and –

‘We got married’, she shrieks, covering her face with her hands, ‘but we didn’t have sex. We got married, came back here and fell asleep.’

Felicity’s outburst was met with silence.

‘We got married’, she repeats again, vaguely aware of the new ring on her finger. ‘We got married.’

‘Years of slow build’, John’s sounds resigned now, ‘and you get to this?’

‘Shut up!’, Felicity yells forcefully, surprising even herself. She’s crying, she realizes. So she runs into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her.

None of the men go after her.

()

When she gets out of the bathroom, after a short pep talk and washing her teeth, she’s ready to face the music.

Diggle is still glaring at Oliver, who is sitting on the couch, staring at his left hand. He seems utterly sad, and Felicity’s stomach turns, but she plows through it.

‘Did the media get a hold of it?’, she asks Digg, all business.

‘No’, he shakes his head. ‘You tweeted a picture of your hands, nobody realized it was Oliver. I’m only here because you texted me saying you’re high.’

‘That’s great’, she nods. ‘Less damage control. Now we can-‘

She’s interrupted by her phone ringing. It’s not her usual ring tone, and it makes the men frowns.

‘That’s my mother’, Felicity pulls a face.

‘She couldn’t have found out, right?’, Oliver says, somewhat desperately.

‘Fair assumption’, Felicity sighs, ‘If I didn’t know for a fact that she knows the piano singer at the chapel.’

Oliver pales, but Felicity tries her best to ignore him, picking up.

‘Mother.’

‘Do you have something to tell me?’, she asks, no inflection in her voice.

‘Yes’, Felicity sighs. ‘I screwed up.’

The woman sighs too, but doesn’t say anything more.

‘So’, Felicity starts, ‘do you still have friends down at city hall? The type of friends who would annul a marriage without alerting the media?’

Her mother hums. ‘I do.’

‘And would you do it? In exchange for a favor, of course.’

‘What type of favor?’, her mother’s tone is way too amused for Felicity to deal with.

‘I’ll pay the rest of your mortgage’, she says, quickly.

‘Why?’, her mother asks after a beat.

‘Because I’m desperate?!’, Felicity laughs, bitterly. ‘I don’t want to be a wife right now, and Oliver really does not need any type of negative advertising. The type that, you know, would most definitely come with him marrying his EA in a chapel in Vegas!’

‘Calm down, dear’, her mother says, and Felicity hates the fact that she can hear her laughter. ‘I’ll call my friend, I’m sure it can be arranged.’

‘And I’ll wire you the money as soon as I get back to Starling.’

‘Perfect. Just one more question, Felicity.’ Her mother’s tone turns softer. ‘Are you sure?’

She spares a look at Oliver, who has gone back to staring at the wedding ring. ‘Yes, mother. I’m sure.’

They hang up soon enough, but before Felicity can open her mouth, Oliver starts talking. He doesn’t look up, though.

‘Is your mother seriously treating this as a transaction? You’re her daughter, how can she treat you like a stranger?’

Felicity blinks. ‘Old habits die hard.’

‘That sucks’, Digg deadpans, making her snort.

‘That’s my mother. Now, to more pressing issues.’ She slowly walks towards Oliver and sits down next to him. ‘We should take them off.’

His eyes snap to hers. ‘What if I don’t want to?’

Felicity blinks a couple of times, as Digg groans and leaves the room.

‘What if I don’t want to take the wedding band off?’, Oliver repeats slowly, not taking his eyes away from her.

‘That would mean that you would want to be married to me. Which is insane!’, Felicity yells in his face.

‘It’s not-‘

‘Nooooo’, she shrieks, interrupting him. ‘It is insane, Oliver! You can’t possible want to stay married to me. We haven’t even gone on a date! Ever! You haven’t even kissed me and you want to marry me? No.’

‘You know it’s not like that’, Oliver tells her, pointedly.

It gets Felicity even more mad.

‘Yes, I know how it’s like’, she bites out the words. ‘I love you, you love me, but you’re too afraid to actually be with me. Why would that change now? Why would _this_ change you?’

Oliver opens his mouth to respond, but Diggle comes back to the room.

‘You were drugged’, John says, reading from his phone. ‘Las Vegas Police closed that club down last night, because they realized they were drugging their elite customers with a will-power drug.’

‘What the hell is that?’, Felicity asks, weary.

‘It lowers your will power’, Digg explains. ‘Makes you more susceptible to doing whatever the people around tell you to do.’

Felicity turns towards Oliver. ‘Did someone tell you to marry me?’

‘No’, he answers quickly. ‘Did someone tell _you_ to marry me?’

She glares. ‘No, but _I_ wasn’t the one who proposed.’

Oliver snaps his mouth shut while Digg snorts.

‘I’ll check the feeds’, Felicity sighs. ‘Once I get back to Starling and my monitors, see if anybody suspicious talked to you. But for now, we have to wait’, she tells Oliver sympathetically. ‘We have to wait for my mother to work her magic and call us back. So, until then, I am going to take a bath’, she grins. ‘It would be lovely if you boys would get some breakfast in the mean time.’

Once again, none of the men said anything else of followed her to the bathroom.

()

Felicity falls asleep in the bath. Digg wakes her up by knocking on the door and asking if she’s alive.

It’s only when she’s standing in front of the mirror, dressed and with her hair in a towel, that she realizes she hasn’t taken off the wedding band.

It’s a simple ring, made out of shiny gold and flat against her finger. It makes Felicity’s stomach turn. Because she wants it, more than anything else, she wants it to be true and she wants Oliver.

But not like this.

This is all a mistake, she keeps telling herself. They were drugged and drunk and it’s a mistake they need to fix.

So she takes the wedding band off, leaving it on the sink’s edge, and goesout to the living room.

Where Oliver and Diggle are watching TV. But Oliver doesn't really look her in the eyes for the rest of the day, and Digg keeps throwing her concerned glances. When her mother calls to tell her they needed to be at city hall in an hour, it was a relief.

()

They signed the papers and were in a car back to Starling in less than an hour. Felicity fell asleep on the ride back, which she was grateful for, because the awkward atmosphere was clogging her throat.

()

Felicity fast-forwards through the video footage, especially the parts when she and Oliver were together. Those hurt too much to look at, but she did manage to find something.

‘Either we need to call Waller, or find a way to get in touch with Batman, I’m not sure.’

‘What?’, Oliver asked after a beat.

Felicity just pointed at the monitors, that showed Oliver in the club, with a blonde, other than Felicity. She was wearing black pants and a red tank top, and she would have been easily lost in the background if it wasn’t for the way her hair was styled into two high ponytails.

‘Who is that?’, Oliver frowned, ‘I don’t remember her. From that night or from anywhere else.’

Felicity looked to Digg, then, who was watching the monitors with a slightly terrified look.

‘I gather you’ve worked with her before?’

John shook his head. ‘Nobody worked with her. Even… Deadshot refused to.’

‘What?’, Oliver asked again.

‘That is Harley Quinn’, Felicity explained, ‘Ex therapist, current psycho, who was involved with the Joker for a long time, before Batman locked him up. Her last known residence was Argus.’

‘I’ll call Waller’, Digg nodded, already walking away.

‘Do you think she told me?’,  Oliver asked, eyes down. ‘To marry you?’

Felicity snorted. ‘For the sake of our sanity, Oliver, yes, let’s believe that.’

()

It took three days for Oliver to say something. Three days in which everything went back to normal with them, at the office and in the lair.

But when he did say something, Oliver went all out.

He turned up at Felicity’s door late at night, with a bottle of wine and a huge bouquet of red roses, apologizing.

‘There’s nothing to apologize for’, she said softly. ‘It was the drug.’

‘No’, Oliver shook his head. ‘I’m sorry for not doing this earlier.’

‘Doing what?’

Oliver took a deep breath and smiled at her, so soft and caring, it made Felicity’s knees go weak.

‘Taking the next step towards you.’

()

Years later, Oliver admits he kept the wedding rings from Vegas. Felicity laughs at him a lot, but in the end, that is the rings they choose for their wedding.

Their real wedding.

They just get them engraved and try their best not to ever mention Vegas on their wedding day. Digg didn’t get the memo, making everybody laugh during his best man speech. 


	92. secstories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _If you're taking prompts: drugged up felicity unknowingly torturing oliver with her sex stories (i love jealous! oliver) Thank you so much for the wonderful works you have posted so far, you're a gift to this fandom ;)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a quicky again. because i've had some busy days. and, to be honest, i'm going to keep having them for a while. so my apologies, if these get a bit... scattered :)  
>  **ps** : who do I have to sell my soul to, to get some fanart around here? I mean... that was rude. What I wanted to say was that you can totally do that, if it spikes your creativity. and post it on tumblr and tag me. I'm sssssssim.

She got hurt, again. Not as bad as a gunshot wound, but her ribs were bruised and so were her legs. Diggle gave her strong drugs, again, but this time, it was Oliver who took Felicity home.

A decision which he is currently regretting.

›»›

Felicity was curled up on her couch, dressed in her pajamas and snuggled in her comforter. She was also talking nonstop about her awkward of weird past sex experiences.

Oliver was struggling to keep calm. It was pretty impossible, when Felicity was talking rapidly and without a filter, completely unaware of what she was doing to him.

He found out a lot of things about Felicity.

She slept with a woman in collage, but she didn’t like it that much, she still liked being with a man better.

She had sex with a guy who had a piercing in his penis, and he wasn’t that good, not really, but the piercing did wonders.

She turned down a threesome once, with a guy she really liked, because the other guy was a complete douchebag.

She lost her virginity when she was 17, in the back of a car, to her best friend at the time.

She blew one of her TAs in his office, once, and he fucked her later that night, in a lecture hall.

She had sex with a bisexual guy who was a bottom. It was oddly fulfilling.

She was in a gay club, and she convinced a gay guy to go down on her in the bathroom.

She dated a bartender for a while, in college, and he liked fucking her on the bar, after hours. His boss walked in on them one time. He made them wash the bar and all the glasses.

She was the one who made Barry think about what his superspeed might do in the bedroom. He called her three days later, telling her that he almost gave a girl a heart attack, and Felicity was seriously considering finding out for herself what he could do.

She never used a vibrator. She was too embarrassed to buy one.

She probably wouldn’t say no if Nissa and Sara offered a threesome.

She never thought of having sex in the office, probably because she saw too many security feeds featuring employees doing it.

›»›

Oliver tried to make her shut up. He was utterly unsuccessful.

After a while, he stopped trying.

He just listened.

Not looking at her, listening, and struggling to breathe.

›»›

When Felicity finally stopped talking and closed her eyes, Oliver just stood there for a few minutes, making sure she really did fell asleep.

‘I never think about having sex with you’, she mumbled sleepily, making Oliver stop breathing. ‘Cause the real deal would be better than anything I’d ever imagine.’

She fell asleep after that. Oliver carried her to the bedroom.

›»›

He left that night with a raging hard on and what felt like a permanent blush on his cheeks.

›»›

Felicity texted him in the morning.

_I am so embarrassed. I’m sorry. Feel free to never speak to me again._

Oliver answered a simple _Black tea might help with your headache. See you at the Foundry._

›»›

Felicity didn’t look him in the eye for a week. Oliver was amused, mainly, but also a little hurt.

He wanted to level the field, again. So he got very drunk and went to her apartment.

Oliver didn’t let her say anything, he just pushed her on the couch, sat down next to her, and started talking about his own weird sex encounters.

Felicity didn’t react like he thought she would. She didn’t look away from him all the time he spoke, and when he was done talking, she flung herself in his lap and kissed him till he forgot his own name.


	93. his scars on her skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _an old (close) enemy of Oliver's seeks revenge on him so he gives Felicity identical scars (to match Oliver's) but Oliver stops him before he can finish._

Oliver gets a video message, that’s how he finds out.

He didn’t even realize Felicity was taken.

His knees give out when he opens the message, and Diggle and Roy have to keep him straight.

Felicity is stripped, left only in her underwear and bra, chained to the ceiling. He vaguely realizes that she’s in the exact position he was when Merlyn kidnapped him last year, but he doesn’t think it’s important.

She’s crying, her glasses aren’t on anymore. But Oliver sees so much hate in her eyes, directed at someone sitting on the side of the camera. She sees her struggling, but standing strong.

Even if her body isn’t, because she’s bleeding.

From her left shoulder, two places across her chest, one under her breasts, four cuts across her hip.

‘Those are your scars’, Digg breathes out, disgusted.

Oliver hands him the phone and roars. In anger and pain, punching the thing closest to him, a wall.

‘You have an hour’, a voice comes from the phone. ‘Any later than that, and she dies, like you should have.’

Oliver knows that voice. Oliver thought he killed the man who that voice belongs to. Over the past few months, Oliver has thought about killing him again, over and over again.

Any little sympathy he might have had left in him disappears.

‘Suit up’, he bites out, looking towards Roy and Diggle. ‘Call backup.’

‘Do we need backup?’, Digg frowns, but he does pull out his phone.

‘No’, Oliver grunts. ‘But we need anybody and everybody who cares about Felicity’, his voice breaks over her name, ‘to make him pay.’

←

When they get to the warehouse, Oliver is the first one to walk in. He’s followed closely by Diggle and Roy, Lyla and, surprising absolutely everyone, Deadshot, holding the rear.

Merlyn is standing next to Felicity. He’s dressed in his League of Assassins attire, his bow loosely in his left hand and hood down. He’s also smirking, and it makes Oliver want to throw up.

He hears Lyla gasp, when she sees Felicity, no doubt. Deadshot pointedly arms his wrist piece.

‘You’ve brought friends’, Merlyn says lightly. ‘Coincidently, so did I.’

‘It doesn’t matter’, Oliver says without hesitation. ‘Because nobody can save you now.’

Merlyn smirks. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that.’

When he doesn’t elaborate, Oliver looks at Felicity and wills himself not to flinch.

There’s a flash of something in her eyes, something he has never seen before in her, and Oliver knows that it’s the detached coldness associated with torture. It breaks his heart.

When Felicity speaks, her voice doesn’t waver. She doesn’t take her eyes of Oliver, and even though she’s crying, she seems strong, stronger than ever.

‘He’s insane. More than before. He has Thea.’

Oliver moves forward then, even more rage clouding his judgment, but Roy and Diggle hold him back.

Merlyn simply raises an eyebrow.

‘She’s not hurt’, Felicity says, grabbing Oliver’s attention again. ‘He’s trained her. She’s strong. Partially brainwashed.’

Roy’s hand on Oliver’s arm is digging bruises into the skin and he uses the pain to ground himself.

‘She knows. About you. And Roy.’ Felicity takes a deep breath and winks before she adds Sara’s name to the list.

Oliver doesn’t react, but he doesn’t understand.

‘Why?’, Roy grunts out.

Felicity’s eyes skip to him for a beat, but then she looks to Oliver again, completely ignoring Roy.

‘He’s been here. He was here when Slade was killing your mother. Torturing you. Us. Burning the city. He was here’, her voice breaks and she has to take a big breath before continuing, screaming, ‘and he didn’t do anything!’

Her scream echoes in the empty warehouse, and it brings a shiver down Oliver’s spine. He thinks that it’s good that she’s angry. That means she didn’t give up.

‘Where’s Thea?’, Roy asks, and Oliver hears him knocking an arrow in his bow. He doesn’t have to look to know it’s pointed at Merlyn’s head.

‘Close’, is all Malcom says.

‘Basement’, Felicity spits out, hatefully. ‘Training.’

‘Go’, Oliver says after a moment’s thought, pushing Roy slightly. He doesn’t hesitate in leaving.

‘Why are you doing this?’, Digg asks.

It makes Malcom laugh. He tries to say something, but Felicity interrupts him.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

When Oliver’s eyes snap to her, again, she’s already looking at him.

‘There’s always a choice, Oliver’, she says pointedly, and his eyes widen. ‘No more killing. Not from you.’

Merlyn laughs again. Oliver can’t take his eyes off Felicity.

She smiles, a bit, just a slight upturn of her lips. Her eyes skip upwards, for a beat, before returning to Oliver. She smiles properly, then.

‘What’s worse than a monster?’, she whispers, making Merlyn turn to look at her, briefly. When he looks back to Oliver, there’s rage in his eyes.  

‘Thea will be the one to kill you. For all the ways you hurt her, lied to her, betrayed her. She _will_ kill you.’

Oliver opens his mouth to respond, but Felicity interrupts him.

‘What’s worse than a monster?’, she asks again, making everyone turn to look at her. She’s looking up to the ceiling again.

‘The thing the monster’s afraid of.’, she laughs, brokenly and Oliver reaches for an arrow.

When he finishes drawing his bow, something explodes.

Oliver realizes it’s the windows. Then, in what feels like the blink of an eye, Merlyn is surrounded by League assassins, all pointing their arms at him. He’s scared, terrified, doesn’t even dare fight back. He opens his mouth to speak, but someone gags him.

It’s Nyssa, Oliver realizes. She doesn’t look any better than the last time he saw her, at Sara’s funeral.

‘Oh good’, Felicity breathes out. ‘I was starting to think you didn’t get my message.’

‘You shall explain how exactly you got our number, Miss Smoak.’, a new voice says. Oliver doesn’t recognize the man, but when he moves, to stand in front of Merlyn, there’s no doubt in Oliver’s mind that he is Ra’s al Ghul himself.

‘Malcom Merlyn’, he says next, his strong voice echoing in the warehouse. ‘Releasing you from the League was a mistake. I am here to fix it.’

‘They don’t like killing, here in Starling City’, Nissa says, something close to amusement crossing her features.

‘Death is too easy for this asshole’, Felicity adds, making everyone turn to look at her, except Nissa’s father.

‘Agreed’, he says. ‘You’ll live the rest of your life in hell, as you deserve.’

As the assassins move to take Merlyn out of the warehouse, Lyla and Digg run to release Felicity. Oliver moves to help them, but Ra’s al Ghul stops him with a shake of his head.

When he is sure that Felicity was taken care of, wrapped in John’s jacket and being hugged by Lyla, Deadshot standing in front of them with his weapons still drawn, Oliver turns to the ruler of the League.

‘Thank you’, he says, sincerely. ‘I don’t know how you’re here, but I am thankful.’

He nods at his daughter, and Nissa takes a step forward. 

‘Your mother told us Merlyn was alive before she died. The League has been tracking him down for months, but we only arrived in Starling yesterday.’ She frowns, slightly, sparing a look at Felicity. ‘I’m still not sure how Miss Smoak knew we were here or how she managed to notify us before Merlyn captured her.’                     

‘You aren’t as stealthy as you think’, Felicity says, still on the floor, not looking up. ‘If you know what to look for, you’re easily tracked. Not the best thing, I think, for a league of assassins. You should invest in some upgrades in that area.’

Ra’s al Ghul raises an eyebrow at her, and then turns to Oliver.

‘She’s something special.’

‘That’s an understatement’, Nissa says, softly, sharing an amused look with Oliver. He shakes his head and turns to her father again.  

‘Thank you’, Oliver says, again. ‘I am in your debt.’

‘You are not, Mister Queen’, Ra’s al Ghul shakes his head. ‘Now, we are even. But pray our paths don’t cross again.’

He extends his hand, and Oliver shakes it, nodding all the while. He leaves, and Nissa follows him, sparing a smile in Felicity’s general direction.  

As soon as they’re gone, Oliver all but runs to Felicity, nearly knocking Deadshot down in his path. She already has her arms open, so he doesn’t hesitate in gathering her in his. He tries to be as gentle as possible, but Felicity clings to him tightly.

‘I’m okay’, she says the words against his neck. ‘It hurts and there’s too much blood, but I’m fine. I promise, Oliver, I’m fine, I don’t care.’

He shushes her, pushing her hair out of her face and kissing her forehead. ‘He gave you my scars.’

‘I don’t care’, Felicity whispers, pulling him forward so she can push her face against the crook of his neck, again. ‘I’ll hack his super secret bank accounts and get the money to pay for plastic surgery.’

‘Don’t joke’, he pleads.

‘If I don’t joke, I’ll pass out’, she snorts. ‘And you’ll freak out.’

Oliver growls, and shifts until he can pick her up. Felicity doesn’t protest as he hurries out the warehouse.

‘Thea didn’t know it was me’, she whispers when they’re close to the exit. ‘He didn’t tell her his plan. Don’t… She needs you right now.’

He nods, weakly, not ready to face his sister yet. It still makes Felicity push up to kiss his cheek.

Before she passes out, she only says one more thing. ‘I hope they give me the good aspirins’. Oliver snorts, feeling a lot lighter than before.


	94. give me strength and give me paint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [nerdyandturdy](http://nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com/) asked: _Oh my god another high school AU please. Maybe Oliver needs a tutor and hello here comes Felicity!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this got away from me SO FAST, it's almost 5000 words. I would apologize... but I am not sorry. enjoy ^.^

When Felicity hears someone rapping a finger on her table, it doesn’t take long for her to get ready for a rant.

You see, nobody in this school likes Felicity. And she likes it that way.

So she doesn’t have friends, she always tries to do any group projects on her own, she eats alone. If someone dares to approach her outside of school work, she glares and she’s rude and mean, harsh but not violent, not enough to get her expelled.

People know to stay away from Felicity.

She’s a senior, so she just has to push through a few more months of highschool. Then, she’ll be off to college. Doable. But she still didn’t like people around her.

So yes, when she hears someone rapping a finger on her table during lunch, Felicity raises her eyes, prepared to glare whoever disturbed her into submission.

But she wasn’t expecting to face a smiling Oliver Queen.

Everybody knew who Oliver Queen was. One of the most popular students, but also one of the smartest, captain of the basketball team and heir to the Queen Empire.

And he's smiling softly at Felicity, seemingly shy.

‘Is this seat taken?’

Felicity blinks. ‘I eat alone. What do you want?’

‘To talk to a polite young woman, for one.’, Oliver raises a judgmental eyebrow.

She scoffs. ‘I’m not polite.’

‘Clearly’, he nods, sitting down in the chair opposite of Felicity. ‘I need your help.’

That makes her stop the harsh comeback she had planned, curiosity getting the better of her.

Oliver sees her hesitation, so he leans forward an inch, keeping his hands underneath the table and takes a deep breath before speaking.

‘I’m failing art.’, he whispers, eyes cast down, his disappointment clear even to Felicity. ‘And I need to pass all my classes, to get into college.’

‘That doesn’t explain why you’re here’, Felicity points out.

Oliver looks up, blinking twice at her, hesitating.

‘I asked the teacher if I could take extra classes, or something, to pass the test. And he said I should ask _you_ to tutor me.’

Felicity didn’t say anything, so Oliver went on.

‘He seems to think you’re the best in school. And he also seems to think you’ll be able to teach me enough art to help me get a good grade at the final exam. Final project, actually.’, he wrinkles his nose. ‘I have to do a project.’

‘Well, shit’, Felicity says, with feeling, startling Oliver. ‘I owe him’, she explains, ‘so I kind of have to help you.’

‘You don’t _have_ to’, Oliver frowned. ‘But I would appreciate it.’

Felicity looks at him, for a few long moments. He’s attractive, for sure, but she always figured he was a douchebag. She’s starting to rethink that statement, because of the soft way he’s looking at her, from the way he’s holding himself, uncertain. There are butterflies in her stomach, and they surprise her, as much as they scare her.

‘I’ll pay you’, Oliver says next, a hint of desperation passing through.

‘I don’t need your money’, Felicity is quick to shake her head. ‘What I will need is coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.’

Oliver blinks. Felicity pulls out her phone and asks him to program his number.

‘So you’ll help me?’, he asks, hopeful.

‘I’ll try’, Felicity nods. ‘I can’t promise I’ll be able to, but I will do my best.’

‘Thank you’, Oliver breaths out. She sees his shoulders deflate, like he was holding himself stiff and finally relaxing.

‘Don’t thank me yet’, Felicity laughs. ‘This is not going to be easy. If I do this, I plan on doing it right. You’ll probably end up hating me’, she grins.

Oliver snorts. ‘Hate is such a strong word.’

Felicity hums. ‘Sure. Whatever, I don’t really care. So. I’ll get home today at 6. Is that okay with you?’

‘You…’ Oliver frowns. ‘You want me to come to your place?’

She raises an eyebrow. ‘I have a studio. And a library full of art books. Do you have that?’

Oliver’s eyes grow wide. ‘No. Your place is fine.’

Felicity laughs, she can’t help it. ‘I’ll text you the address.’

‘Should I bring anything?’, he asks, politely.

‘Coffee.’, she nods. ‘And a notebook. You might need to write things down.’

Oliver narrows his eyes. ‘That was sarcasm, wasn’t it?’

She nods, amused.

‘I hate sarcasm’, he deadpans.

‘This is going to be fun’, Felicity snickers.

Oliver sighs, thanks her one last time, gets up and walks away. Felicity keeps looking at him from the corner of her eyes, watching as he sits down at a table with Tommy. He starts talking, fast, waving his hands around and he keeps looking towards Felicity. Oliver just rolls his eyes, says a sentence or two, and manages to shut his friend up. Felicity smiles and goes back to her lunch.

°+°

When she gets home, Felicity rushes through a shower before Oliver arrives.

He brought Starbucks coffees for both of them, and a Tupperware filled with chocolate chip cookies. He blushed when he told her that their maid baked them, making Felicity snicker.

It was weird for her, having someone in her studio. Oliver was a stranger, and she wasn’t used to having strangers around in her space.

Oliver spent a long time looking around. Felicity lived in a large studio apartment, close to the Glades but in a fairly safe neighborhood. The apartment was basically an open space, with a tall ceiling and exposed brick walls. She had a small kitchen with a table in the corner and a sleeping space in the opposite one. There wasn’t a bed, just a mattress on the floor, because that‘s how she wanted it. She had a dresser, a desk with a computer and two monitors, and two big bookcases, filled to the brim with mostly art books.

It was a large space, so she still had a lot of place to move around. One of the walls had big windows that went down to more than a third of the height, and she had lined that wall with simple wooden desks. They were filled with a clutter of pencils and paints, jars filled with brushes and spatulas, an array of dirty rags lying around.

The whole apartment was very well lit, but that part had even more light, coming from the windows, so that was her painting space. She had three easels and a couple of high chairs.

Her kitchen and sleeping area were spotless, clean and tidy, but her working area was chaotic. There was paint splatter everywhere, on the walls, on the floor and on the windows, and everything was cluttered.

But she loved it. Felicity loved her apartment, from the unmatched plates to the chips in her bath, from the glow-in-the-dark star stickers above the mattress, to the Victorian style mirror next to the front door. It was a good place, which she had made her own and it worked wonders for her creativity.

She felt scrutinized now, with Oliver looking wildly around everything. He seemed overwhelmed, and also slightly judgmental. It made Felicity’s stomach turn.

But when he looked at her again, he was smiling.

‘This place is amazing. It’s very you.’

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’, Felicity frowned.

Oliver shrugged. ‘Bipolar. Tidy and messy at the same time. Colorful, full of light. Somewhat industrial.’

Felicity snorted. ‘You don’t know me, Queen.’

The smile fell off his face, but he spoke in a gentle tone. ‘Where are your parents?’

She hesitated, casting her eyes down.

‘I’m sorry’, Oliver said, quickly. ‘It’s not any of my business, you don’t have to tell me.’

Felicity sighed. ‘It really isn’t any of your business, but we have work to do and this place…’, she shook her head. ‘I don’t like having negativity in this place. So...’

She took a deep breath and spoke in a detached tone. ‘My father left when I was 10. He died when I was 12. And I got emancipated when I was 15. I have lived alone ever since.’

‘How?’, Oliver asks, in shock.

‘When he died, I got all of his money. Well, no, they got put in a trust fund that I had access to when I turned 16. I used it to buy this place. Your teacher, he helped me find it, that’s why I feel like I owe him. He helped me a lot through the years, actually.’

Oliver didn’t say anything, he just stared at her with his jaw dropped.

Felicity sighed, moving to the kitchen and putting the cookies on a plate. Oliver followed her, but he still didn’t say anything, so Felicity continued with her explanation.

‘Before you ask, no, I’m don’t whore myself for money.’

Oliver made a sort of choked-off noise, making Felicity snicker.

‘I teach art in an after-school program’, she said, smiling at Oliver despite herself. ‘I’m pretty good with kiddies, apparently. So I babysit too, sometimes snatch some freelance design work. That, added to the money I get from the state…’, she shrugs. ‘It's enough.’

Oliver shook his head a bit, blinked a couple of times.

‘You’re remarkable’, is what he finally said, somewhat breathlessly, making Felicity flinch.

‘Thank you for remarking on it, but don’t, okay? Just don’t.’

He frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Felicity didn’t let him.

‘Let’s get to work, okay?’, she smiled reassuringly. ‘Let’s just sit down for a bit, drink our coffee and eat the cookies, and you’re going to tell me what your assignment is and what you have in mind.’

°+°

They sat for a couple of hours at her kitchen table, long after their coffee went cold and the cookies were gone.

Oliver didn’t know much about art. He knew his final project was going to be a series of paintings, because it was the only environment he felt comfortable working in. And he knew he liked colors. That was it.

Felicity had a lot of work to do.

Thankfully, she also had a lot of time, till the end of the semester. So they decided they’d start with some art history, Felicity going through it, showing Oliver the most important parts. Hopefully, he’ll take inspiration from it and it will be easier for him to choose a theme for his project.

°+°

For the next month, Oliver came over three times  a week, twice after school, when he didn’t have basketball practice, after Felicity came home for work, and he usually stayed for a couple of hours.

He’d always bring coffee, but also food his maid cooked for them, anything from sandwiches to lasagna. Felicity felt bad about it, she didn’t like people giving her charity, but Oliver assured her that it was nothing like that. He explained it, that Raisa was more than just their maid, that she loved Oliver and his sister a lot, and that the woman spoiled them every chance she got.

So Felicity stopped trying to make him stop. But on Saturdays, when Oliver usually came in the morning and left many hours later, just in time to have dinner with his family, that’s when Felicity made them lunch. He always seemed to like the food, and they didn’t stop talking about art while she cooked.

°+°

Felicity was surprised by Oliver. He listened to her, thoroughly writing down things he needed to look into when he got home. And he always did, coming back with more questions.

He seemed to enjoy himself around Felicity, and she saw him growing comfortable in her space.

It was weird, for her. Very weird. She wondered, every night after he left, if this was what having a friend was like. But then, she remembered just how different lives they had, and that they were only pushed together like this because of circumstances. He was doing it because he needed to.

But she did enjoy having Oliver around. As much as he didn’t understand her sarcasm sometimes, he was very sarcastic. And funny. But he was also caring; he lit up when he talked about his sister or about Tommy, and he never stopped Felicity from talking about the kids she taught or babysat.

°+°

The most awkward moment came three weeks into their arrangement, when Tommy called Oliver. He was handling three different books at the time, so he answered and put the phone on speaker.

Tommy was supposed to sleep over at Oliver that night, but he had a date before, and he didn’t want to carry around his overnight bag and the one he needed at school the next day.

‘So if I come over to Felicity’s place, can you get them?’

Oliver looked up at Felicity then, frowning. She sighed and shook his head.

‘That depends, Tommy.’, Felicity said, having decided to get over the fact that they haven’t really met and never spoke. ‘Are you going to pass by a Starbucks on your way here? Because, apparently, you already know where I live.’

‘Sorry about that’, Tommy said, amused. ‘I was afraid you were going to kill Oliver, so I asked him where I could find his body afterwards.’

She scoffed. ‘What makes you think I’ll leave a body?’

That made Tommy laugh and Oliver grunt. But then, he put a hand over Felicity’s arm to get her attention.

‘You already had a cup of coffee, and it’s getting late. Do you really need another one?’, he asked softly, concern seeping through.

There was silence for a few seconds, and Felicity blushed, surprised by his concern. She took her hand away, and put some distance between them.

‘I have a commission to hand in tomorrow, I’ll be working all night. So yes, please Tommy, if you can get me a cappuccino I would be grateful.’

‘Sure thing, Felicity’, Tommy said, cheerful. ‘See you in 15.’

After he hung up, Felicity raised a very judgmental eyebrow at Oliver, making him sigh.

‘He likes to meddle’, he said. ‘And he thinks we’re sleeping together.’

Felicity blushed, but she ignored it. ‘You have told him that’s not happening, right?’

‘Of course’, Oliver said, somewhat affronted. ‘But he doesn’t believe me.’

Felicity shook her head and urged him to go back to reading about Van Gogh.

°+°

When Tommy came around, he spent a couple of seconds just looking around, from the loft, to Felicity’s pajama pants, to the way Oliver was surrounded by several books and open notebooks.

‘You two really aren’t sleeping together’, Tommy frowned.

Oliver punched him in the shoulder. Felicity rolled her eyes so hard, she got a headache.

Somehow, Tommy ended up canceling his date and spending the rest of the evening with them. He knew a lot of things about art, Felicity was surprised to find out, because his father had a pretty vast collection.

Felicity was invited for a tour the next week. Oliver joined her, and the three of them spent a couple of hours in the Merlyn mansion, talking about every painting and sculpture.

°+°

After that evening, they both started talking to her at school. In the halls, sometimes during lunch, in the classes their shared. Everybody else seemed shocked, but there was an untold agreement between the three of them, that they’d ignore it.

Felicity found herself being surprisingly okay with it.

°+°

It took Felicity a month to go through art history and theory with Oliver. The first time they saw each other after that, they spent hours talking about what he could do for his final project.

Oliver had a lot of ideas, and Felicity helped him shape them and decide on a final theme for his project, as well as the format and the style.

But that took all night, several cups of coffee and two pizza deliveries.

So they arrived at school together the following morning, Felicity with under eye bags so dark, no makeup in the world could have hidden them, and Oliver wearing one of her larger t-shirts, that she usually wore at gym.

Tommy asked them if they finally got laid.

Oliver punched him in the shoulder and Felicity stole his cup of coffee.

°+°

Things changed when Oliver started painting. He still came to Felicity’s studio, he still brought coffee and snacks, but now, they painted together.

They placed their easels side by side, so that Felicity could easily give Oliver indications. They were close, very close.

Their shoulders brushed when they stretched to get something off the desks. If they reached for brushes at the same time, their fingers would touch. Felicity’s clothes held more splatter from Oliver’s paints than from hers.

He started leaving clothes. Painting clothes, and a set of street clothes, folded neatly and left on a chair.

Oliver would start painting with brushes, but he’d always end up painting with his fingers. So he’d shower before he left for the night. That meant that there was a corner of her bathroom that held Oliver’s shower gel and toothbrush, a razor he rarely used. Felicity even brought him black towels, so he’d have his own set.

Seeing these things made Felicity’s stomach turn every morning. It wasn’t a good feeling, because she couldn’t help but think about the moment Oliver would finish his paintings, and the toiletries and clothes would disappear. And that made her sad, inexplicably so.

°+°

‘You don’t flinch away from me anymore’, Oliver told her one day. They were in school, he was waiting for Felicity by her locker, to go together to a class they shared.

Felicity looked at him with wide eyes, fear clearly seeping through. It only made him frown harder, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

‘Hey, hey’, Oliver whispered, coming a bit closer. ‘It’s okay, it’s just a thing I noticed, but you don’t have to explain anything.’

She gulped, and moved her shoulder until he took his hand away.

‘I don’t know if I can tell you, Oliver’, she looked down, ‘but if I do, it certainly wouldn’t happen in school’.

‘Okay’, he was quick to say. ‘That’s fine, let’s just go to class.’

He didn’t touch her for the rest of the day. It didn’t make her feel better.

°+°

Oliver didn’t ask. But two days later, when they were painting, Felicity told him anyway, quickly and without warning, like ripping a band aid.

‘My therapist said that during the ages of 10 to 16, that’s when a person develops most of their personality and that those years are defining. And for me… Those weren’t good. It’s not that my mom was abusive… well, no, she was abusive. But not…’

Felicity took a deep breath and looked anywhere but at Oliver, but she managed to keep on talking.

‘She wouldn’t kick or hit me. But she’d yell and curse me, and if she… If she wanted me to move out of the way, she’d push me and I’d fall or hit a corner of a table. And if she held my arms, or shoulder, or whatever, she’d leave a bruise. And she’d comb my hair and pull at it till it hurt.’

‘I don’t like… I don't have panic attacks if I ride the bus. But I’m not used to people who _aren’t_ strangers getting close like that. Don’t take it personally, please, I’m just not used to having a friend.’

Felicity blinked and looked up, to where Oliver was watching her with a very weird expression, an expression she couldn’t read.

‘Not that we’re friends’, she continued, blushing and looking down again. ‘But you’re here, you’re here a lot, and that’s not normal, not to me.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver interrupted her rant, and when she looked at him, he was smiling softly. ‘I do consider us friends. Thank you, for trusting me enough to tell me that.’

‘I don’t-’, she shook her head. ‘Don’t say you’re my friend just for the sake of it. I don’t need pity and I’ve been doing well till now without any friends, you don’t have to-‘

Felicity was cut off by Oliver stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She went with it willingly, surprising herself, all but melting into his arms. Felicity wrapped her arms around his waist, as he used a hand to guide her head into the crook of his neck.

‘You _are_ my friend, Felicity’, he whispered into her hair. ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way. And trust me when I say that you can tell me anything. Absolutely anything, absolutely anytime, and I’ll still be here to help you if needed. Okay?’

She nodded, but didn’t pull away for a long time.  

°+°

Things didn’t change between them after that night.

But things changed for Felicity. Because there wasn’t any more hesitation from her part. She felt lighter when she was with Oliver, and she knew that was important.

°+°

Felicity didn’t know when Oliver’s birthday was, but Tommy made him spend the day with a ‘#birthdayboy’ t-shirt on. She offered to skip their painting session, but Oliver declined, he just asked if it was okay for Tommy to come along. She agreed, already planning on getting home a bit early so she could bake a batch of cupcakes.

‘Aren’t you going to tell him _happy birthday_?’, Tommy asked, coming to their side and grinning.

‘Not yet’, Felicity winked, making Oliver pout. She walked away to the sound of Tommy’s snicker.

°+°

When they came around that night, Felicity waited for them with chocolate chip cupcakes with vanilla frosting, and a candle burning in one of them.

Oliver blew it out, and Felicity wished him a happy birthday, hugging him briefly and kissing his cheek. He froze, for a second, but then he grinned and gently squeezed her hand, thanking her.

Tommy took pictures of the whole moment. It was particularly embarrassing, for some reason.

Of course, they didn’t do any work that evening, because the boys brought several bottles of wine. Tommy passed out at the kitchen table. Oliver managed to pull himself and Felicity to bed.

When Oliver’s mother came by to pick them up in the morning, she politely shook Felicity’s hand, thanked her for helping Oliver, and pushed a double cappuccino in her hand.

°+°

When there was only one week left to finish the assignment, Oliver started panicking, even though the project was almost done.

There were 14 canvases, different shapes and sizes, and Oliver designed them to be arranged into a big square. As far as technique went, he wasn’t a fan of sharp lines. So his painting style was somewhat abstract, with undefined shapes, but very colorful. He painted with all the vivid colors he could find, but never with black.

The only black that was visible on the canvases was used to paint small swirls, that passed from one canvas to another, pulling all of them together as a whole.

Oliver chose to paint his soul. That’s what he called the project. Felicity knew there were portraits of the people he cared about, his family and Tommy, but also things important to him. For example, there was a small painting of a necklace, a family heirloom that Oliver said he was going to use instead of an engagement ring. There was a landscape of a beach house that held memories very dear to him, and Thea’s favorite toy growing up.

But Felicity didn’t see the final results. She saw the progress of most of the paintings, but Oliver wouldn’t let her see the canvases in their final stage. She thought it was stupid, because she was supposed to help him and provide feedback, but he was adamant about it.

She thought of peeking at them, because he left them in her apartment, but in the end Felicity knew she would betray Oliver by looking at them. So she didn’t.

°+°

Oliver skipped school the last two days before he had to hand in the project. Felicity felt a spark of something, when she handed him the keys to her apartment, so he could work, but she tried her best not to think about what it meant.

All doubt was erased from her brain, though, when she came home the last day and found Oliver fast asleep, sprawled on her bed. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and Felicity gulped down the pang of want that went though her.

She let him sleep for a few hours, and when she woke him up, Oliver quickly hugged her, tightly, telling her that it’s done.

Felicity was happy, for him, because he seemed content with his work. But his toiletries in her bathroom came to mind, and how much it would hurt when they wouldn’t be there anymore.

But she said nothing. She smiled and congratulated him, helping him carry the canvases to the car.

°+°

The teacher organized an exhibit, with all the final projects in his class.

Felicity was excited to see it, more than she expected. But she pushed through her anxiety, putting on a dress and high heels, braiding her hair and putting on makeup.

Tommy picked her up and drove them to the school, and he saw right through her, judging by the way he spent the ride assuring her that everything was fine and that Oliver was very happy.

When they stepped inside of the room with the exhibit, Tommy took her hand and guided her straight to Oliver’s paintings.

Felicity saw his mother first, who was sitting next to a tall man, that she recognized at Oliver’s father. Between them, there was a little girl with dark curls, that Felicity placed as Thea, Oliver’s sister.

She couldn’t look away from Thea, because her expression was absolutely amazing. She was looking up at the paintings with awe in her eyes, with both her hands on her cheeks and her jaw dropped. That was when Felicity realized that Oliver did a great job.

But she didn’t manage to look at the paintings, not yet.

When Oliver’s mother saw her, she instantly came to hug Felicity. She let herself be hugged, but didn’t manage to return it. It didn’t seem like Ms. Queen minded, because she pulled away and started talking, thanking her and telling her that Oliver got an A.

Felicity felt overwhelmed, not managing to say anything. Tommy came to her rescue, laughing and detaching Moira from her, slowly guiding Felicity towards the paintings.

When she looked up, her breath left her. She barely heard Tommy’s whisper of ‘whoa’ beside her.

The paintings were amazing. As a whole, it was a violent display of color, but it worked well. Oliver managed to combine colors perfectly, and the black swirls that connected the canvases made everything seem a bit more edgy.

But the subject of the paintings… That was what took Felicity’s breath away. Oliver’s mother, his father and Thea. Tommy, the beach house, the pendant. A cup of coffee on a bed, a row of books, an xbox controller. A bike, a galaxy, the New York skyline. And in the center of it all, on a medium sized square canvas, Oliver painted a pair of lips. They were bright pink, and smirking, and Felicity felt her knees go weak when she realized that it was her, that he painted her lips.

‘Where’s Oliver?’, she managed to ask, feeling tears threatening to spill.

‘He’s talking to the teacher, sweetheart’, Moira answered. ‘Next to the drinks table.’

Felicity all but sprinted her way to them. She tried her best to keep calm, but judging by the way Oliver frowned when he saw her, she wasn’t so successful.

‘What’s wrong?’, he asked when she came by his side, putting a hand on her lower back.

‘Nothing’, Felicity shook her head. ‘It’s absolutely amazing. It’s… breathtaking. ’

His fingers tightened on her back, but his whole face transformed. He beamed at her, happy and content.

‘I am so proud of you.’, she started babbling. ‘I was proud of you before, since I saw how hard you worked, but have you seen Thea? She’s looking at your stuff like they’re the best thing in the world, and they are! They’re amazing and I-‘

She was cut off by Oliver’s lips on hers. He kissed Felicity, just a quick peck, just enough to make her stop talking. When he pulled away, he was grinning somewhat manically.

Oliver winked at her, and pulled her body closer to his.

‘Thank you, Felicity, for all the help. And thank you, Mr. Lance, for recommending her.’

Felicity completely forgot their teacher was still there. He was smirking and shaking his head.

‘My pleasure’, was all he said, highly amused, before winking at Felicity and leaving.

She turned toward Oliver again, and opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off.

‘We should talk, I know’, he smiled, ‘but we should also grab Tommy and walk around to see the other projects. We can talk later. When I take you out for icecream?’

‘That…’, Felicity gulped. ‘That’s seems like we’re going to be here for a while.', she whispered playfully. 'Can I get another kiss to gather strength?’

Oliver laughed, loud and delighted, but he did tilt his head to kiss her, properly this time, making her hands shake and her knees wobble.

They both ignored Tommy’s catcalls.


	95. the sibling/best friend diagram

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> freckles2514 asked : This is literally one of my favorite drabbles of. all. time. PLEASE do another one with sterek. Maybe a wedding? Or kids?
> 
> [arktikemmi](http://arktikemmi.tumblr.com/) asked: This is not a prompt per se but sort of I suppose. I just saw a gif you posted of Emily Bett and she has the same bunny teeth as Hoechlin. So. AU. Derek and Felivity are siblings, Stiles is Felicity's best friend who Derek is like so totally but (no quite so) secretly in love with and Oliver is the dude who has the hots for Derek's darling little sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, freckles, there's no wedding or kids. still not out of the artsy!Oliver area. yet. oops?  
> uhm. Stiles and Derek are from Teen Wolf. (do I still need to say that, I mean..!?). you can read without watching that, they're human here, no werewolves ^.^

Even though there were only 18 months between them, Derek has always been the big, protective brother. Felicity stopped teasing him about it a long time ago, and she had very little to comment on when Derek decided to take a year off after highschool, to work in a local bookstore, so he could go to college the same time as Felicity. And at the same college. They studied different things, but they shared an apartment. People found it weird, but they were pretty much glued at the hip, have been all their life. Derek didn’t think he was sacrificing himself for Felicity, no, he just thought he wouldn’t survive college without Felicity by his side.

*°*

Felicity knew for a fact that going with Derek to college was the best thing for her. She loved her brother, yes, but she also needed him. Neither of them were overly social people, but together they could conquer the world, if they wanted to. She didn’t mind how protective he was of her, she found it endearing. And Derek always listened to her, he would always do what she asked of him. So she was pretty sure that college with Derek will be the best experience of her life.

*°*

Stiles and Felicity were best friends since the first day of highschool. They bonded instantly, talked for a long time during the first week of school and never really stopped. He would do anything for her, because he loved her to the moon and back. Well. Uh. Almost anything. He wouldn’t sleep with her, because ew, he really doesn’t want to fuck his adopted sister.

Her brother, though. Stiles wanted to fuck him nonstop. But he also wanted to woo him and kiss him and date him and marry him. He didn’t say anything about it, he was way too embarrassed about his stupid crush. Even if Felicity always urged him on, and always made sure to have the two most important boys in her life spend time together. But no, Stiles didn’t do or say anything.

So going to college with Felicity and Derek? Having a dorm room but spending most of his free time at their apartment? College was going to be torture for Stiles. Fun, perfect, torture.

*°*

Felicity knew Stiles, she could read him like an open book. So she realized pretty quickly that he was in love with her brother. But she didn’t intervene. Much. Stiles asked her not to. So she did her best to not intervene, even if her boys were acting stupid and oblivious.

*°*

Derek _hated_ Stiles.

No, no he didn’t. He wanted to hate him, but he couldn’t.

Stiles was always around, he was loud and erratic, annoying and so very frustrating. Derek wanted to hate him, but he couldn’t, because Stiles loved Felicity just as much as he did. And Stiles protected Felicity just as much as he did.

And fuck, somewhere along the way, Derek fell in love with the idiot. Stiles was smart, and sharp, and his opinions were always well documented, which Derek admired a lot. He was also very passionate, he got easily obsessed and he was sarcastic and funny and everything Derek never thought he wanted.

But Derek never said anything, he couldn’t. He didn’t date, everybody knew that Derek didn’t date. He didn’t want to date, he never wanted that, ever. Until Stiles.

He never said anything.

*°*

Felicity didn’t know if Derek felt the same way about Stiles. She just couldn’t read his brother, not when it came to this. He never had a girlfriend or boyfriend, so she had no data to compare. She knew Derek cared about Stiles, that much was clear, but she didn’t know if he cared about him _that_ way.

It was fairly frustrating.

*°*

Derek didn’t have a lot of friends. He had his sister, he had her Stiles, and he had Oliver.

He met Oliver after highschool, when he worked at the bookstore. Oliver would come in every other day, and spend a couple of hours poring over art books, reading three of them at the same time, writing down at least 5 pages a day, and always buying one of them.

Oliver was also taking a year off after finishing highschool, because he wasn’t accepted in the college he wanted to. He was going to study art, so in that year, he worked on perfecting his admittance portfolio.

They bonded surprisingly easily, and became friends quickly.

When Oliver was accepted to the college he wanted, which was the same one Derek was going to, he made sure to get a dorm room that was close to Derek and Felicity’s apartment.

He was the odd one out of the group, sitting in a corner with a sketchbook when the rest were playing video games, spending a lot of time arranging the food on the plates when it was his turn to cook. His clothes were always splattered with paint, and he didn’t seem to care.

But still, he fit right in. They always had something to talk about with Oliver, not just Derek, but Felicity and Stiles both.

Derek wasn’t blind, he noticed how Felicity acted around Oliver. She tried to hide it, but Derek could see how Oliver got her sister flustered.

Felicity didn’t say anything, so he didn’t either. But still, Derek did his best not to ever intervene between them.

*°*

How Oliver managed to make Felicity feel like this, she didn’t know. He didn’t even look like he was trying, but he always turned Felicity into a pile of goo. She had a crush, a massive embarrassing crush on her brother’s best friend.

Stiles tried teasing her about it. But when she started teasing him about Derek, he stopped.

Felicity just felt… stupid. And it was exhausting to try to control it, control her reactions, because he was always around! She really didn’t mind his presence, quite the opposite, but it was exhausting her, mentally.

She just hoped Derek didn’t pick up on it.

*°*

Oliver was prepared to spend the rest of his life alone when he met Derek. But when he brought along his sister and her best friend, Oliver knew he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life alone. And he was happy about it, happy to be part of a group, happy to know these amazing people, and happy to have their friendship.

It would be weird, if he admitted his attraction towards Felicity, right? Derek would probably kill him, Stiles too.

But it wasn’t just attraction, it was… something else. Something more. Something a lot more, that Oliver has never felt before.

Still, it would be weird. So he’s keeping his mouth shut.

*°*

Derek thought Oliver liked Felicity too. But Derek was also almost sure that Oliver was asexual.

Still, he did his best to make sure to leave them alone, from time to time. It couldn’t hurt, maybe they figured themselves out.

*°*

Everything changed during their first midterms week.

They all had one more midterm left, the next day. So of course, they were all studying in Felicity and Derek’s living room, while there was a blizzard outside.

Stiles and Derek were on the couch, books and binders scattered around them and on the coffee table. Felicity was sitting on the ottoman under the window, her nose buried in several books and notebooks, and Oliver was in the middle of the living room, on the floor. He was only reading from a book, but he was sketching in four different sketchbooks.

They were all wearing pajamas, there was a pot of coffee brewing every three hours and most of the kitchen was filled with empty take out cartons. Everything was in chaos, and Felicity didn’t dare think about what was going to happen during finals.

‘I’m going to shower!’, she said forcefully, pushing away all the books, several of them landing on the floor.

Oliver flinched so hard, he drew a very strong line across his sketch.

‘Are you dying?’, Stiles deadpans, not even looking up from his book.

‘No, I’m showering.’

She heard Derek snort before closing the door to the bathroom.

*°*

Felicity was still in the shower when the lights went off. She screamed.

When she managed to stop screaming, the door to the bathroom banged against the wall and she heard Oliver’s frantic voice calling her name.

‘I’m fine’, she wheezed out, thankful that she thought to put a shower curtain when they first moved in. He couldn’t see anything anyway, there was no light in the bathroom, and there was little light coming through the small window, but not enough.

‘But you screamed.’, Oliver said, and Felicity knew he was frowning. It made her smile.

‘I don’t like the dark, especially when it surprises me.’

‘Oh’, Oliver said, gently.

Derek passed by him, using the light from his phone.

‘I’m taking your sex candles’, he said, making Oliver yelp and Felicity groan.

‘There are no such things as sex candles, Derek!’. She paused. ‘Bring me one, please.’

Felicity was unaware that Oliver stood there. She was also unaware of the very pointed look Derek shot him when he came back with the lit candle and saw him staring at the barely visible outline of Felicity’s body.

*°*

When Felicity got out of the shower, all her candles were scattered around the living room. And because most of them were scented and Halloween had just passed, the room smelled like fall.

The boys were where she left them, Derek and Stiles on the couch, and Oliver on the floor, but none of them were studying anymore. Derek had his eyes closed and head lolled back, Stiles was staring down at his hands and Oliver was on his back, looking up at the ceiling.

Felicity grinned, because it was clear they weren’t going to study anymore.

‘Deeeeeeer’, she fake whined, making all of them turn to look at her. ‘I’m cold, make me some hot chocolate?’

His brother narrowed his eyes. ‘Mom’s recipe or dad’s?’

‘Dad’s’, Felicity grinned, going back to her place on the ottoman and starting to pick up her books.

‘We have a midterm tomorrow’, Derek argued.

‘It’s tomorrow. None of us are studying anymore, and if we ever plan of sleeping tonight, we _need_ dad’s hot chocolate after all the coffee we drank.’

‘I’ve known you for five years’, Stiles interrupted whatever Derek was about to say, ‘I’ve spent half that time at your house, and I have never seen your dad make hot chocolate.’

Felicity snickered.

‘You are the Sheriff’s kid’, Derek explained, ‘he would have arrested mom and dad if they gave his underage son alcohol.’

‘Are we drinking?’, Oliver asked, finally joining the conversation.

‘Only if you want’, Felicity was quick to assure, because she knew Oliver didn’t like to drink. ‘White hot chocolate with oranges and vodka are dad’s specialty.’

‘I’m in.’, Stiles turned to Derek, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

‘Me too’, Oliver nodded, surprising Felicity.

‘We won’t get drunk’, she assured her brother. ‘We’ll just… get warm and sleepy.’

Derek sighed and went to the kitchen, asking Stiles to bring a few candles.

*°*

They got drunk. Fast. And that didn’t make them stop drinking.

If Felicity didn’t know better, she would have thought Derek used a lot more vodka than he should have.

They ended up sitting on the floor, in a circle. Derek argued that they were too old to play spin the bottle or truth or dare, but he accepted a game of 2 truths and one lie.

Felicity laughed so hard, there were tears falling down her face. She knew everything about Derek and Stiles, well, all the important and embarrassing things, but she found out a lot of things about Oliver.

That he knew how to shoot a bow and arrow, that he never wore underwear under his pajamas, that he had three tattoos, that his younger sister made him beat up one of her ex-boyfriends, but Oliver didn’t know how to fight, so he covered the guy’s car in paint. He liked watching Pawn Stars and he sang in the shower. He hated swimming and he could speak Russian.

*°*

But Felicity wasn’t the only one who was drunk and shocked.

Derek almost dropped the bottle of vodka when Stiles said that he lost his virginity in the bathroom of the only gay club in Beacon Hills.

Stiles, in turn, was shocked when Derek admitted that he figured out he _wasn’t_ asexual only in the last year of highschool.

‘Oh man’, Oliver whined, ‘being asexual can’t be pleasant. You’re missing out on so many things.’

‘Wait’, Derek froze. ‘You aren’t asexual?’

Oliver blinked. ‘Did I not tell you about that time I had a threesome with my English teacher and her husband?’

Derek’s jaw dropped. Felicity mewled out loud, and she blushed so hard, she was convinced it was visible, even in the low light. Stiles started laughing.

*°*

‘What do you mean you lost your virginity when you were 16?’, Derek hissed.

Felicity blinked at him. ‘You know this.’

‘No I don’t’, he shook his head.

‘Derek’, she tilted her head. ‘I came back from prom and told you, and I quote, _I’m not a girl anymore_ ’.

Oliver snorted at that. They all ignored him.

‘I thought…’, Derek frowned, but he didn’t go on.

Stiles facepalmed. ‘You thought she got her period, didn’t you?’

‘No’, Derek spluttered, ‘I knew she got it before she-‘

‘Let’s not talk about my period!’, Felicity screeched.

‘Thank you’, Oliver said, mildly.

‘Waaaaait’, Stiles said, suspiciously. ‘Then when did you think she lost her virginity?’

‘I thought she slept with Danny last year’, Derek said somewhat desperately.

Felicity snorted, taking another sip of vodka.

‘Danny is gay’, Stiles told Derek. ‘ _I_ slept with Danny last year.’

‘Wait’, it was Derek’s turn to look suspicious, narrowing his eyes at Felicity. ‘Does this mean you lost your virginity to Jackson Whittermore?’

Felicity groaned, pressing her cheek to Oliver’s shoulder.

‘Who’s Jackson Whittermore?’, he asked, highly amused, absently wrapping a hand around her shoulders.

When Felicity didn’t answer, just groaned again, Stiles snickered and started explaining.

‘Jackson was the biggest douchebag in school, and her prom date that year. But no, she didn’t sleep with him, she slept with Scott.’

‘Why?’, Derek asked, staring at how Oliver’s thumb was rubbing circles on Felicity’s upper arm. He didn’t even seem aware that he was doing it.

‘Because Scott is a pretty nice guy’, Stiles shrugged. ‘And he went to prom with Lydia Martin. And half way through, Lydia and Jackson got back together.’

Derek frowned, turning to Stiles. ‘Didn’t you have a crush on Lydia Martin?’

‘Long time ago, my friend’, Stiles shook his head, taking another sip of vodka.

*°*

‘So when did you lose your virginity, Derek?’, Oliver asked a while later, after Felicity lowered herself to the floor, putting her head in Oliver’s lap.

‘I didn’t.’, he answered quickly, freezing instantly after.

‘God, you’re drunk’, Felicity snickered.

‘Really?’, Oliver asked surprised, completely ignoring the way Derek was blushing or how Stiles was staring at him with his jaw dropped.

It took a while for Derek to answer, and when he did, he talked fast and with a slightly raised voice.

‘I thought I was asexual! All the way through highschool I got off only when I started getting boners in the most random moments! I only figured out my dick could do nice things two years ago!’

‘Please stop talking about your dick!’ Felicity whined, shoving her face behind Oliver. He just wordlessly handed her the bottle of vodka.

‘What changed, though?’, Stiles asked, absently scratching at his face. ‘What made you realize you weren’t asexual?’

‘Or who.’, Oliver said. ‘Who made you realize it?’

They were both looking expectantly at him. Derek lowered his eyes. ‘I’m not drunk enough to talk about it.’

Felicity handed him the bottle of vodka.

*°*

‘Since Oliver came along, last year’, Felicity frowned, ‘none of us has been dating.’, Felicity said, turning her head to look at Oliver. She was still plastered to his side, so they were close, so close that she had to look a bit cross eyed at his face.

‘Why did you say it like it’s my fault?’, he frowned.

‘I didn’t, I just-‘

‘Oliver dated somebody.’, Derek said, grinning.

‘Oh’, Felicity frowned. ‘I didn’t know that.’

Oliver blushed and turned around, slightly, pressing his cheek to her upper arm. Derek started snickering.

‘Back home’, Oliver started saying, ‘I babysat sometimes, for the neighbors. They had a 9 year old girl.’

‘She wuuuuuved Oliver’, Derek snickered. ‘And she’s going to marry him when she grows up and have lots and lots of babies.’

Stiles started laughing.               

‘Oliver never said _no_ to her’, Derek continued. ‘She was too cute for him to hurt her feelings.’

‘That’s adorable’, Felicity cooed, running her fingers through his hair.

‘You’re adorable’, Stiles said, still giggling.

‘I’m always adorable’, Felicity agreed, easily.

‘Especially when you wake up’, Oliver said, voice muffled.

Felicity’s hands froze in his hair. Nobody said anything for a few seconds.

‘I’m not sure if that was creepy’, Stiles said, scrunching up his nose, ‘or very bad flirting.’

‘I don’t flirt with Felicity’, Oliver mumbled. ‘Derek would kill me. So would Stiles.’

Stiles started laughing again. Derek soon joined him.

Felicity sighed and went back to petting his hair.

*°*

‘Stiles, what’s your type?’, Oliver slurred.

‘Tall, dark and handsome?’, Stiles giggled.

‘Derek fits.’

‘A lot of guys fit’, Stiles said after a beat, refusing to look at Derek. ‘And a lot of girls.’

‘Derek fits better’, Oliver frowned, making his best friend groan and cover his face.

‘You make it sound like you’re putting him somewhere’, Felicity giggled. ‘Like, where does Derek fit?’

‘In Stiles’, Oliver didn’t miss a beat in answering.

Derek started coughing.

‘Well maybe I’d fit better in Derek’, Stiles said, taking a large swing of vodka afterwards.

Derek just stared at him, with his eyes wide and jaw dropped. Stiles shrugged and handed him the bottle.

*°*

‘You’re very cuddly.’, Felicity told Oliver sweetly, kissing his forehead.

‘You too’, he grinned back. ‘And your hair smells nice.’

‘Your hands are nice’, she sighed, leaning against him. ‘I’m always looking at them when you draw.’

‘You never look at what I draw’, he frowned.

‘I thought you didn’t want me to see. You never show us anything.’

‘I’ll show you. My sketchbooks. And paintings. I have paintings in my room.’

‘What do you paint?’, Stiles cut in.

Oliver shrugged. ‘Details. Most of my teachers hate it. I never do like, a person. I just do the hands, or the eyes. Or in a landscape assignment, I did a close-up of a tree. And of the sun.’

‘So cool’, Felicity breathed out.

‘I painted you once.’, Oliver smiled goofily, poking her thigh. ‘Your lips and your neck, for a color theory assignment. Your bright pink lipstick and a yellow background. It was great’, he sighed, dreamily, making Derek snort.

‘Wow’, Felicity breathed out.

‘The teacher said your collarbone looked perfect.’, Oliver smiled again, somewhat proud.

‘No, seriously’, Stiles frowned, turning to Derek. ‘Is he creepy or flirting?’

‘Both, I think.’

Oliver pouted. Felicity put a hand around his shoulder and hugged him.

‘No, he’s sweet.’

‘Seeee?’, Oliver grinned, hugging Felicity tightly and looking at the other men. ‘She thinks I’m _sweet_.’

‘Good for you’, Stiles nodded, seriously, but reached for the bottle again.

*°*

‘It’s 4 am.’, Derek said, pitifully. ‘We have to wake up in 3 hours.’

‘We should sleep.’, Felicity nodded. ‘We’ll feel like shit, but our brains need it.’

Oliver just nodded, wordlessly.

‘Do I have to fight Oliver for the couch?’, Stiles asked, stumbling twice before he managed to get up and put himself into a fighting position.

‘We can share’, Felicity shook her head, moving to get up and stumbling, ending up sprawled out in Oliver’s lap.

He snorted, wrapped his arms around her waist and got up, taking her with him. Felicity yelped, instinct making her wrap her legs around his waist.

‘Cuddle buddies share beds’, was all Oliver said before making his way to her bedroom. Felicity managed to grab one of the lit candles on their way out, giggling a goodbye to Stiles and Derek.

Stiles and Derek, who were both watching them in shock.

‘Is it rape if she wants it?’, Stiles asked.

‘He wouldn’t do that’, Derek frowned.

‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure he can’t get it up, considering how much he drank.’

Derek scrunched up his nose. ‘Should I save her?’

‘I really don’t think she wants saving.’, Stiles shook his head, offering a hand to help Derek up.

He wobbled when he found himself on two feet, but Stiles was there and helped him straighten up, with a hand around his waist and one on his chest.

Neither of them stepped back.

‘Cuddle buddies share beds?’, Stiles grinned, cheekily.

Derek snorted, but he did nod, and started blowing out the rest of the candles.

When they passed by Felicity’s room, on their way to Derek’s, they heard laughter, from both Felicity and Oliver.

‘No saving needed’, Stiles grinned.

‘Good’, Derek nodded. ‘I’m too tired.’

He grabbed Stiles’ hand and dragged him to his bedroom.

*°*

They didn’t speak much when they woke up. They just took turns showering, Oliver and Stiles borrowed clothes from Derek, and made their way together to the school.

They all did well on the exams, surprisingly. And when they were done, they all met at the coffee shop near the campus.

Oliver was the last to arrive, and when he did, he didn’t say anything, just sat down next to Felicity, wrapped a hand around her shoulders and kissed her. It took a few seconds for her to realize what was happening, but when she did, Felicity sighed, brought her hands up in his hair and opened her mouth for him.

Stiles and Derek stared for a while. When it was clear that Felicity and Oliver didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon, Stiles bumped their shoulders together.

‘If they’re making out, we should totally make out too.’

‘Okay’, Derek didn’t hesitate in answering, frantically moving to kiss Stiles.

*°*

Derek thought it was weird, having his best friend sleeping in his sister’s bed.

Felicity thought it was weird, having her best friend sleeping in her brother’s bed.

They both quickly stopped thinking that the morning they woke up to Stiles and Oliver cooking breakfast.


	96. Brand New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [myfavouriterecordson](http://myfavouriterecordson.tumblr.com/) asked: _hiya! i was wondering if you'd like to write a prompt where Felicity is reharsing for a dance competiton or something with the song[Brand New by Pharrell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLwVyhx9wak) and then Oliver sees her and helps her or something, that's up to your amazing writing skills! hope you like it, if not, that's okay!_

Oliver didn’t call Felicity when he came back from his trip. A day early. That was his first mistake.

So that Saturday, come noon, Oliver went to the Foundry, thinking it would be empty and he could train. That was his second mistake.

His third mistake was not moving as fast as he could have.

↖↘

When he opened the door to the Foundry, his ears were attacked by a high pitched music. He didn’t recognize the song, but it was clear to him that it came from Felicity’s playlist.

She was singing along to it, dancing to the rhythm. It was an upbeat song, made for making you feel good, and he couldn’t help but smile at how Felicity sang.

_You got me feeling brand new_

_You got me feeling brand new_

_Like that tag’s still on me_

Oliver scrunched up his nose, but he had to admit that it worked, for what Felicity was doing. She wasn’t just dancing, she was doing cardio. Even though Oliver didn’t recognize the style of it, he had to admit that it was working, he could clearly see what muscles she was working.

Only now, when he let himself look at Felicity properly, did he realize that she had changed. Her muscles were more defined, there wasn’t any hesitations in her movements anymore. It was clear that she had been training.

After the song ended, it started up again. Oliver had to roll his eyes.

But then he froze, because Felicity picked up two metal rods that Oliver used for sparing. And then his heart sank in his chest, because it was clear that Felicity knew how to use them.

And she was fast. And she was still singing. And moving her hips to the rhythm.

↖↘

Oliver doesn’t really know how long he stood there, watching her wield the rods. But he was sure it was for more than a song.

When Felicity finally spotted him, she screamed and threw one of the rods at him.

It almost hit him in the face, but Oliver’s reflexes made him catch it.

‘You were supposed to come home tomorrow’, Felicity shrieked, and Oliver noticed that her breathing was a little labored.

He hummed, stepping towards her and plucking the other rod for her hand, lowering them to the ground.

‘So’, he crossed his hands over his chest. ‘Do you have something to tell me, Felicity?’

She glared at him, making him smirk, but she moved to her desk, sitting down in the chair and grabbing a bottle of water.

‘I’ve been training’, she finally said, after she lowered the volume of the music. ‘Do I need to explain why?’

‘No’, Oliver assured her, gently. ‘But you should tell me what you have been doing and why you didn’t tell me.’

Felicity sighed. ‘I started off with self-defense with the Lance’s. Mostly Quentin, sometimes Laurel.’

Oliver’s eyes grew wide at that, but it didn’t stop Felicity from talking.

‘When that went well, Quentin took me to the shooting range, taught me to handle a gun. And when that went well, I started taking archery lessons too. I figured, there’s always a bow around, I might as well know how to use it, right?’

Oliver was feeling breathless, and guilty. Very guilty, because she was like this because of him. She was in danger, and she needed to learn to defend herself, and it was all because of him.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’, he managed to breath out.

Felicity saw that he was affected, clearly, because she got up from her chair and made her way towards him, smiling all the while.

‘Because you wouldn’t have let me do it, would you? My life, my choice, remember?’

‘But-‘

‘No buts’, she shook her head. ‘This is a good thing, Oliver. I’m not a damsel in distress anymore.’

And Oliver had to agree with that. So he shook his head, took a step back and took off his shirt, ignoring the way Felicity’s eyes zeroed in on his chest.

‘You’re right. But you also know you’re not training with the best. So’, he smirked, heading towards the descanted rods. ‘Show me what you can do.’

Felicity gulped, turning a bit pale. But then she swallowed hard, and her whole expression turned to determined.

↖↘

Half an hour later, they were both panting. She was good, Oliver had to admit. Surprisingly good. She didn’t succeed in beating him, but Felicity did give him a good workout.

‘This is frustrating’, she groaned, taking a step back and lowering the rods.

‘Is it?’, Oliver grinned. ‘I’m having fun.’

‘Asshole’, she said, with feeling. ‘Just once, I’d like to have the advantage. Once.’

Oliver shrugged.

It made her expression turn murderous. Next thing he knew, Felicity took off her tank top, leaving her in a black sports bra. Oliver tried his best not to stare.

He doesn’t know if he was successful or not, because Felicity picked up the rods and charged at him.

↖↘

Three minutes later, they were both panting.

Somehow, he doesn’t know how, Felicity tripped him and Oliver fell on his back, on the cot in the Foundry. She straddled him, and she was now panting over him, with a rod at his throat, just shy of suffocating him.

 _So I wanna say_ , she started singing cheekily, and Oliver realized that that damn song was still playing in the background.

_Thank you for this day_

_Cause it is so good_

_Good honey_

Oliver laughed, taking the rod from her hands and throwing it away. Then he lifted his head and kissed her with all he had, even though he was still smiling.


	97. Married with... Bratva

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Can you do like a Bratva!Oliver with fake married Olicity (to keep up appearances olicity needs to be married but felicity's in serious denial about her feelings while Oliver doesn't shy away from them.) I see Oliver being very possessive in this AU and he's still CEO of QC._
> 
> Another Anon asked: _when you get around to it will you do a jealous oliver and a jealous felicity! don't care where you go with it_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m still ignoring season 3, I just… took what we knew before it aired. So this happens in a world where Oliver got his company back, no Olicity kiss and all that. Palmer, though, that still happened. And The Atom, and Felicity/Ray happened. Vaguely enough, but it happened. And some Felicity/Barry. Because _ship Felicity with all the things!_ And you're in for a ... communist surprise!

If Felicity didn’t hate Russia before, well… now she wanted to burn the whole country to the ground.

+

They didn’t go to a hotel, Oliver having opted for renting a two bedroom apartment. He was enjoying having his company back, using QC as an excuse again, but also his money. Felicity figured she could let him have at it for a few more weeks.

Nobody needed saving this time, but one of Anatoly’s Bratva contacts had information about Thea’s whereabouts.

Felicity tried not to think about all the things she’d like to scream in Oliver and Diggle’s faces, for not telling her that OLIVER IS A CAPTAIN IN THE RUSSIAN MOB.

Because they were here for Thea. And that was the most important think.

+

But only to them, apparently.

Because when Anatoly came over to sort through the details, he casually announced that his contact was a very old fashioned criminal, so he would respect Oliver more if he was married.

‘You two are great actors’, Anatoly grinned at them, winking at Felicity. ‘Everything will be perfect.’

When Oliver said her name then, softly and concerned, Felicity raised a hand to stop him, managing to look at him and smile.

‘It’s fine, Oliver.’

‘But-‘

‘No.’, she shook her head. ‘It’s Thea.’

‘You don’t have to’, Oliver said, slowly.

Felicity rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

‘Pick your poison’, she glared at Oliver. ‘My life, my choice. It’s Thea, there’s no choice to make. I can do this. Just chose whatever floats your boat and let’s go.’

Oliver didn’t answer, still looking at her in concern.

‘See?’, Anatoly said gleefully. ‘She’s already in character.’

Felicity glared at him, and the Russian has the decency to look away.

+

The meeting was in a warehouse, of course it was.

Felicity was freezing, her heels were making a lot of noise on the concrete floors, and she could _feel_ her hair frizzing because of the moisture in the air.

Oliver seemed completely… at ease. It would have pissed Felicity off, if she didn’t notice that he was walking a bit in front of her, and that he was doing that thing he does with his fingers when he’s nervous.

Felicity sighed and started walking faster.                            

When they finally arrived at the other end of the warehouse, Felicity saw the man they were supposed to meet, and he seemed completely normal.

Mid 50s, nice suite, he had started to grow bald and had a prominent beer belly. He didn’t scare Felicity at all.

When he started talking, in Russian of course, he was smiling at Oliver, and when they shook hands, everything seemed very friendly.

Felicity didn’t really understand what was happening, because she didn’t speak Russian, but she tried her best to seem polite… So that left her smiling awkwardly to their sides.

When the man finally turned to her, he looked her up and down quickly and grinned wildly. He said something to Oliver, that made him clench his fist and narrow his eyes, and Felicity really did not want to know what he said.

The next thing she was aware of was Oliver grabbing her somewhat violently, one hand on her waist and one rising to get a hold of her neck. Felicity barely got to lock eyes with him before his lips were on hers.

Against her better judgment, Felicity melted in Oliver’s arms, sighing happily and curling her fingers around his biceps. She opened her mouth for him, and she shivered when their tongues curled against each other.

The Russian cleared his throat, making Oliver stop kissing her. But he didn’t push her away, their lips were still touching as he spoke.

‘Now he knows we’re married’.

Felicity smiled, because that was expected of her, even though her heart hurt every time Oliver got too close to her, without being close enough. But she smiled, like she always did, and pushed on her toes to kiss him again, just a small peck on the lips.

Then she turned around and smiled at the Russian man, making sure to keep her fingers intertwined with Oliver’s.

Oliver started talking then, saying something about Thea, and the Russian nodded and talked in a serious tone. Felicity had no idea what he was saying, but she did notice that Oliver didn’t relax. That couldn’t be good.

When the Russian turned around and yelled something, Oliver squeezed her fingers and lowered his head a bit, so he could whisper.

‘He doesn’t know anything, a contact of his does.’

Felicity sighed, but nodded nonetheless.

When they heard a set of feet stepping into the warehouse, Oliver let go of Felicity’s hand, moving to stand in line with her once again.

And her jaw dropped when she saw the man that came in.

Not because he was gorgeous, no. He was, absolutely gorgeous, but Felicity already knew that. No, her jaw dropped because of his left arm. She hadn’t notice it before, that it was a prosthetic arm, shiny metal with a red star painted on it. Just like she read in the secret Argus files she hacked. Just like-

‘Felicity’, Oliver’s sharp voice made her flinch, ‘you’re staring at a man who is not your husband.’

She gulped and shook her head, turning around to look at Oliver. She smiled as best as she could, faking the stupid level of blonde that was expected of her.

‘Sorry, sweetie’, Oliver’s left eye twitched at that, ‘he just looks a lot like my… brother.’

Oliver frowned, for a beat, but it was gone quickly.

‘I’m sorry’, Felicity grabbed a hold of his hand again, squeezing tighter than necessary. ‘Please, go on with your meeting.’

Oliver looked at her for a few more seconds, clearly trying to read her, and Felicity did her best to act as in character as she could, even though her heart was pounding in her chest.

Their staring context was interrupted by the new arrival, saying something in Russian, short and sharp, clearly directed at his Bratva friend.

Then, he turned to Oliver, not even glancing at Felicity, but he did speak in English, perfect English, without any hint of a Russian accent, startling everybody in the room except Felicity.

‘I do not know the location of your sister right now, but she has been spotted in South America. With Malcom Merlyn.’

Felicity gasped, she couldn’t help it.

‘Malcom Merlyn is dead’, Oliver said, slowly.

The man just shook his head, slowly, his dark long hair flowing with the movement.

‘We will talk later’, he said next, with finality. ‘Do you need him anymore?’

Oliver frowned. ‘Need? No.’

‘Good.’ The man finally turned to look at Felicity, making her knees go week. ‘Miss Smoak, you should look away. And keep your _husband_ ’, he said very pointedly, ‘in check’.

Then, faster than humanly possible, the man turned around and grabbed two knives from the back of his pants.

Felicity felt Oliver move, but she screamed his name and held onto his hand as strongly as she could. He turned to look at her, in confusion.

‘Don’t’, she pleaded.

‘Felicity!’, he yelled, angry.

‘Please, trust me’, she insisted, and Oliver quickly deflated.

But he did position himself in front of Felicity, his back to her. When she followed his line of sight, she saw the man with a prosthetic arm wiping his knifes with a rag, the Bratva captain’s lifeless body laying in a pool of blood by his feet.

‘I’ll meet you back at your apartment’, he said, turning around to Oliver and Felicity.

Oliver didn’t say anything, surprisingly enough, so Felicity took matters into her own hands.

‘James Buchanan Barnes!’, she yelled in her loud voice, making both of the men turn to her. ‘If you are not there in 30 minutes, I will find you and I will pluck every single hair out of your head. With tweezers. Do you understand?’

Barnes was silent for a few moments, blinking rapidly. But in the end, he nodded.

‘An hour. I have to clean up.’

‘Fine!’, Felicity gritted out. She then tried her best to storm out of the warehouse, but it was slightly hard considering she was dragging Oliver with her.

+

Oliver tried to get Felicity to talk during the car ride, but she didn’t answer any questions. When they were back at the apartment, Oliver let her pace for 15 minutes, but then he started asking questions again.

Felicity wanted to rip her hair out in frustration.

But it only took Oliver saying ‘Please’ to get her to start talking.

‘James Barnes. Bucky.’, she started.

‘Captain America’s friend?’, Oliver frowned.

‘Yeah. He’s also known as the Winter Soldier.’

Oliver frowned even more. Felicity sighed.

‘When Bucky died in the 40s, Hydra, you know who Hydra are, right?’

Oliver nodded.

‘Hydra captured him’, Felicity went on, ‘and, basically, they brainwashed him. After, you know, they attached the arm. Then they froze him, and through the past 70s years, they have been using him for their evil plans of taking over the world.’

‘You just said they froze him.’

‘They did’, Felicity nodded. ‘Then they unfroze him, made him kill certain targets, brainwash him again and freeze him again. And repeat.’

‘Jesus’, Oliver breathed out and Felicity couldn’t help but nod.

‘When Captain America broke through his programming, and the Avengers got a hold of him, they did everything they could to give James his memories back. It was electro shock therapy what worked in the end.’

‘How are you talking about electro shock therapy with … cold detachment?’, Oliver asked, visibly disgusted.

‘Because’, Felicity snapped at him, ‘my brain hasn’t really made the connection yet, that the hot guy that’s been flirting with me at the coffee shop for the past months is also Bucky Barnes! Because I was stupid enough to not see it, because we drunk our coffee outside and because he was wearing gloves.’

Oliver’s jaw dropped at her outburst, looking at her with wide eyes, but just for a few moments. Because then, his expression turned murderous.

‘I am going to kill him’, Oliver growled, making Felicity blink at him in disbelief.

‘You will not’, she finally said, a lot calmer than before. ‘You need to hear what he’s saying.’

He looked like he was going to argue, but in the end he didn’t. Oliver didn’t seem happy, but he did nod.

‘I don’t like it’, was all he said.

‘I know’, Felicity answered. ‘Me neither.’

+

When Barnes knocked on the door, Oliver didn’t rush to open it, surprisingly enough. But Felicity saw him grabbing his bow and moving to the middle of the living room, where he had a straight shot at the front door.

Felicity sighed and opened the door.

Barnes was dressed how Felicity was used to seeing him, in jeans and a casual jacket. He didn’t have gloves on, though. And he was smiling softly at her.

That made Felicity mad.

‘Do not’, she told him sternly, poking his chest, ‘smile and act angelic right now.’

‘Maybe later?’, he smirked.

Felicity groaned and turned around, angrily walking to Oliver’s side, crossing her hands over her chest. She was so mad with Barnes, she didn’t make Oliver lower his bow.

The smirk fell off James’ lips, regarding them for a few seconds. When he came inside, closing the door behind them, he kept his hands visible at all times and stopped in front of Oliver.

‘How did you know’, James frowned, ‘that I know who you are?’

‘I didn’t.’, Oliver shook his head. ‘I just don’t care about my secret identity right now.’

Felicity blanched at that, and so did Barnes. She looked at the two men, who were glaring at each other, studying each other thoroughly, and she felt sick to her stomach.

‘Barnes’, she bit out, making him flinch at the coldness in her voice or at the name she used, because she never called him that before. ‘What are you doing?’

He sighed and turned to look at her. ‘Working.’

‘Clearly’, Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you going to tell us on what?’

‘You know who I am?’, he asked next, oddly soft.

‘Yes’, she nodded. ‘Former Winter Soldier, current Avenger.’

His lips twitched. ‘Avenger in training.’ He turned to Oliver, then. ‘Lower your bow. We both know you’re not going to shoot me, because she won’t like that.’

Oliver didn’t even blink, making Barns sigh.

‘If I wanted you dead, you would’ve been dead already. I don’t kill the good guys’, he said with finality. ‘Not anymore.’

That made Oliver lower his bow, albeit very slowly.

Felicity sighed and made her way to the couch, waiting patiently until Oliver sat down beside her (a lot closer than he usually did, but she decided it wasn’t the time to dwell on that) and until Barnes took a chair and sat down in front of them.

‘Start talking, James’, she said after a few long, awkward seconds of silence. ‘Please.’

‘Do you know what… how they …’, he flinched hard at his hesitation.

‘Yes’, Felicity sighed, sympathetically. ‘Hydra perfected brainwashing, shock therapy in the Avengers tower, Stark working on the arm, especially on the connectors with your nervous system, which is an incredible thing and did he ever think about changing the terminals for the os-‘

Oliver put a hand on her knee, stopping her ramble.

‘Sorry’, she blushed, smiling at Barnes, who had his eyebrows raised. ‘Yes, we know.’

‘Right’, he nodded, slowly. ‘How exactly do you know that?’

‘Argus’, Felicity didn’t miss a beat in answering.

‘Lyla gave you her password?’, Oliver asked, confused.

‘No. Well, yes’, Felicity grinned. ‘But she didn’t have access to those files, I had to hack into those.’ She turned towards Barnes again. ‘How do you know who Oliver is?’

‘Doll’, Barnes said, sarcastically, ‘If you could hack into Argus files, be sure Stark has someone or something who can do that too.’

‘Naturally’, Felicity sighed.

‘There are too many people who know already’, Oliver said, leaning into her shoulder.

Felicity nodded. ‘Best not to think about it, that’s how I keep myself sane.’

Barnes snorted at that, making them both look at him again.

‘Stop stalling’, Felicity narrowed her eyes.

‘I have been working missions with the Avengers, and they all thought it was time I went out alone. Steve didn’t agree.’

‘And you couldn’t just ask for help,’ Felicity hissed, ‘instead of trying to get into my pants?’

Oliver grew tense next to her, as Barnes’ eyes grew wide and he blushed.

‘That’s not what I was doing.’, he spluttered.

Felicity just raised an eyebrow.

Bucky shook his head and looked at Oliver. ‘Dames these days are way too crass.’

Felicity puffed, as Oliver stared.

‘Word of advice?’, he finally said, somewhat amused. ‘Don’t patronize the… dames who can ruin your life with a flick of the wrist.’

‘James!’, Felicity all but yelled. ‘Start talking or get out.’

He sighed, and looked at Oliver as he spoke.

‘Our main goal right now is to completely destroy Hydra. It’s a slow growing process, because there are lot of them, and they’re not ratting each other out.’

‘They’ll never do that if you don’t give them the chance.’, Oliver said, pointedly.

Barnes ignored him. ‘This Bratva captain was not on my list, but when we got the intel that you were going to meet with him, Steve thought it was best if I did the job.’

‘Why?’, Felicity asked.

He frowned at her. ‘Because I knew you.’

‘You…’, she blinked. ‘You talked to Captain America about me.’

‘I was informed that it was what normal best friends do.’, James answered slowly, clearly uncomfortable.

‘Excuse me’, Felicity said, all but running to the bar. ‘Do you guys want anything?’

‘No’, they answered in sync, both of them confused.

Felicity still got them each a glass of whiskey, and she poured herself a large glass of wine. She sat back down on the couch (leaving some space between Oliver and her, which he completely ignored, considering he shifted so that their sides were pressed together again), took a large sip of wine and glared at Barnes.

‘For the sake of my sanity, would you please give me a timeline? Like, did you meet me and then figured out I work with the Arrow, or did you meet me _because_ you figured out I work with the Arrow?’

Once again, Oliver grew tense next to her, and once again, James spluttered.

‘No’, he shook his head. ‘I only figured out who you were last week, I assure you.’

‘So do you count our coffee dates as… dates?’, she asked in a straight tone.

He frowned, but nodded.

‘Great’, Felicity sighed, grabbing a hold of her glass again. ‘You’re the fourth superhero I went on a date with.’

‘I am not a superhero’, Barnes said, slowly, making Felicity snort.

‘You save a life, you’re a superhero in my books.’

‘That also makes you a superhero’, Oliver said, seemingly proud.

‘Ture’, Felicity nodded. ‘But I would never say that about myself, that’s just selfish and wrong.’

‘Wait!’, Barnes said, frowning at her. ‘Four?’

Felicity shrugged, and drank more wine.

When James turned to look at Oliver with raised eyebrows, Felicity flinched, even if Oliver did not move a muscle.

‘Don’t ask.’, she shook her head. ‘It’s best for everyone if you don’t ask.’

Bucky didn’t look away from Oliver. Oliver was looking at her. Felicity sighed and put her game face on.

‘Are you staying in Starling?’

James blinked at the change of topic, but nodded.

‘It’s not safe for us to be all together, all the time in Stark’s tower. Steve and I moved to Starling.’

‘Are there more Hydra in Starling?’

‘A surprisingly large amount.’

‘Okay then’, Felicity sighed. ‘We get back in town Sunday night, and have work on Monday. So why don’t you and Steve come by the Foundry Monday at seven? I assume you know where the Foundry is.’

He nodded.

‘Okay, we’ll talk about the details then. I’m pretty sure there will be yelling, because the Arrow doesn’t approve of killing the bad guys.’

‘Neither does Steve’, Bucky nodded. ‘But our superior wanted this guy dead. Wait’, he frowned, suddenly confused. ‘You’re going to help us?’

‘Yes’, Felicity didn’t hesitate in answering.

‘Is that your choice to make?’, he asked hesitantly, his eyes skipping to Oliver.

Felicity looked at Oliver, who was watching her with narrowed eyes. But somehow, she knew that he didn’t have a problem with helping Steve and James, but he did have a problem with James.

‘It’s not my choice to make.’, she said softly, not taking her eyes from Oliver. ‘But the Arrow will never step back from saving a life or putting a bad guy away.’

Oliver regarded her for a few seconds, with a neutral expression she knew was practiced. But then he turned to Barnes and nodded.

And that was it.

Bucky left quickly, Felicity went to bed and Oliver didn’t ask any more questions.

+

When Felicity got to Verdant on Monday evening, Steve Rogers and James Barnes were waiting for her. The latter was holding a bouquet of sunflowers. Felicity groaned before getting out of the car.

She accepted the flowers, because they were pretty, shook hands with Steve and directed the men down to the Foundry.

Oliver had his arms crossed over his chest and was already glaring, Roy seemed to be confused and, surprisingly enough, Laurel was there too, trying and failing to conceal her shock.

After Felicity made all the introductions necessary, she grabbed a bottle of water and put the flowers in it (ignoring the way Oliver was glaring at James), and sat down at her computer, demanding information so she could start working.

+

Over the next week, Roy and Oliver went out with James and Steve every night, going after Hydra goons and sending them straight to Iron Heights.

That meant that Steve and James also spent a lot of time in the Foundry. By day two, they were training with Oliver and Roy. By day four, they were training shirtless.

On day five, Felicity and Laurel had just about enough of it, so they shamelessly sat down with a bowl of popcorn between them, watching the sweaty, shirtless, hot men training.

Steve was the one who noticed them, after 10 minutes. He got so distracted that Roy managed to hit him in the side of the head.

They went back to wearing shirts after that.

Felicity didn’t really know if that was a good or a bad thing.

+

Since day one, Oliver and James have been acting like… alpha males.

When James stood close to Felicity, Oliver appeared at her other side.

When James got her coffee, Oliver made sure to drive her home that night.

When Oliver made her laugh, James asked her about tech things he knew she liked talking about.

When Oliver touched her, on the shoulder or on her lower back, like he normally did, James would do the same, trying and failing at making it seem casual.

Felicity thought it was ridiculous.

But it was even worse when they were training, because all they did was try to establish a winner between them. One would think Bucky would be the clear winner, because of his metal arm, but Oliver was strong enough to put up a fight. Felicity thought he’d never actually beat James, it was a clear tie.

And because of that, they both tried to prove themselves in Felicity’s eyes in other ways.

+

Steve was the first one to address it, after he had to step out of a training match, leaving Oliver and Bucky have at it.

He came to stand next to Felicity and spoke in a lowered voice.

‘This is insane, right? It’s not just me that thinks that?’

‘Ridiculous’, Felicity sighed.

‘So you’re… not enjoying it?’

Felicity snorted. ‘I would give a liver to make them stop.’

Steve scrunched up his nose and said he’ll buy her a coffee. Oliver and Bucky didn’t notice when they left.

+

Everything went to hell after that first week.

They were tracking a Hydra agent that also had a very important position in the local mob, the last one on the list Steve and James had. A plan was developed to take him down, but it involved Felicity sitting in a car outside of the agent’s house, with James keeping her safe.

Of course, Oliver wouldn’t have it.

It made Felicity very angry.

‘You’re ridiculous!’, she yelled, completely ignoring the fact that there were other people in the room. ‘We have had this conversation billions of times before, Oliver. It’s my life, it’s my choice, I’m not going to run straight into a bullet again. I’ll be inside the car, nobody will know I’ll be there, James will be with me and-‘

‘Felicity!’, he took another step forward, because who the hell even cared about personal space these days, anyway? ‘I don’t trust anybody with your life.’

That made her take a step back, the anger draining from her all at once.

‘No’, she said tiredly, ‘you don’t. That’s _our_ problem. That you don’t even trust yourself.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver whispered, clearly pained, but she really didn’t want to listen anymore.

‘I’ll stay here’, she shut him down and turned her back to him. ‘Praying that one day you’ll understand what it feels like to be miles away and waiting for a proof of life.’

+

They got the Hydra goon, of course they did.

Oliver didn’t come back to the lair with the rest of them. ‘He said he wanted to patrol’, Roy told her around a wince.

So of course, this was the moment James thought was best to ask her out to dinner. He was sweet about it, calling her ‘doll’ and willing to take her to her favorite restaurant, whenever she was free.

Felicity hugged him. She just jumped, wrapped her hands around his shoulders and all but buried her face into the crook of his neck. Bucky froze for a bit, but he did lift his hands around her waist.

She was the one to pull back, kissing his cheek on the way.

‘I’m sorry’, Felicity smiled sadly. ‘I can’t.’

Bucky took a deep breath.

‘I thought I could’, she went on. ‘I wanted to, be with someone, someone else, but… I can’t. And I’m sorry, James, I really am, for leading you on.’

‘That’s okay’, he said after a few beats, his lips twitching. ‘I get it. He’s an idiot.’

Felicity snorted, completely surprised by his humor. ‘I can’t really argue with that.’

‘But he’s your idiot’, Bucky told her, very softly.

She didn’t have it in her to respond.

+

Felicity wasn’t surprised when Oliver came to her later that night. She was surprised that he got in through her living room window, still wearing the hood.

‘I can’t do it.’, was the first thing he said, after he put his bow and quiver on the floor.

‘Can’t do what?’, Felicity asked.

‘I can’t be with you.’

‘I know’, she sighed, looking away from him. ‘I get it.’

‘Then why aren’t you moving on?’, he said angrily, but she still heard a hint of desperation. ‘Why did you refuse James? And broke up with Ray? And Barry?’

Felicity’s eyes snapped to his, and she felt her anger flare up again.

‘So what you’re saying’, she said slowly, ‘is that the Arrow can’t be with me, but he’s okay with the Winter Soldier, the Atom or the Flash being with me?’

Oliver huffed and looked down.

‘Cause that’s hypocritical’, she continued, wiling her voice to stop breaking. ‘Considering out of those men, the Arrow is the only one who actually saved my life.’

‘Because  I was the one to put it in danger in the first place.’, Oliver replied angrily.

‘So?’                                             

Oliver puffed, annoyed by her nonchalance.

Felicity sighed and got closer to him.

‘You better listen to me Oliver, because this is the last time I will be saying this.’ She took a deep breath and bravely wrapped her fingers around his. ‘It’s my life, it’s my choice. And I will _always_ choose the Foundry. I am not leaving, Felicity Smoak will not stop being part of Team Arrow.’

‘And you understand that, I know you do’, she said in a softer tone. ‘So you, saying that you can’t be with me because you’d be putting me in danger, that’s bullshit, Oliver. Because I will _always_ let myself get into trouble, because I know you will always come to save me.’

She squeezed his fingers, delighted to see that he didn’t pull away.

‘The reason why you don’t want to be with me, Oliver, is that you’re afraid you’ll screw up. You, Oliver, my friend and partner. Not the Arrow. But the thing is…’, she smiled. ‘That’s normal, Oliver, that’s human, that’s … ‘

 _Amazing_ , she wanted to say, but bit her lip to stop from doing so.

‘If you don’t want to be with me, then stop competing with every guy that shows an interest.’

Oliver’s eyes grew wide and he opened his mouth to say something, but Felicity didn’t let him.

‘Don’t deny it, you did that all week, and if you didn’t even realize you were doing it, well then, I think’, she let go of his hand and took a step backwards, ‘that you have some thinking to do.’

Felicity smiled at him one more time, and went to bed.

+

When she woke up, Oliver was sleeping on the couch. He was using his hood as a pillow, his boots were haphazardly thrown under the coffee table, one of his hands was on the floor and he was snoring.

Oliver woke up when she turned on the coffee machine, coming to stand next to her, wrapping a hand around her waist and pushing his cheek to her shoulder.

‘Please don’t go on coffee dates with Barnes’, he mumbled, still half asleep.

‘Please kiss me’, Felicity whispered. ‘For real.’

Oliver snorted, but he did as she asked.


	98. Living Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Hello! I love Pink on Green and was wondering if I could request a prompt on an olicity University!AU where they somehow get roped into being roommates because of an uneven ratio of male to female students requesting accommodation or something, and they've sort got an enemies to frenemies to friend/lovers type thing going on? Thanks! :)_

The way the university representative explained it, they got put together because they were both from Starling City. ‘Far away from home’, he said, ‘it’ll be nice to have something familiar close by.’

Felicity disagreed.

Oliver and her were on different sides of… all the spectrum, really. He was the child of one of the most powerful families in the country, she was the girl of a waitress. He was doing his father’s bidding, she was running away from her mother. He was studying business, she was studying programming. He was the most popular guy in school, she didn’t really have any friends, just study buddies.

He was messy, she was tidy. He liked to sleep a lot, she liked studying at night. He liked watching football, she liked watching movies. He never slept with a shirt on, she was always cold, so she wore fluffy socks. He liked long showers, she liked doing her makeup in the bathroom. 

Put them together in the same room, fairly large, but sharing a bathroom and a closet, a small kitchen and a tv…

It was hell.

When they talked, they ended up fighting, about the most stupid things. About Oliver leaving his dirty laundry around, about Felicity keeping him up at night with her typing, about what to watch on tv, about groceries and alarm clock ringtones.

So, most of the time, they didn’t speak.

It was still hell.

But there was one thing Felicity liked about Oliver. Loved, really, and she was immensely grateful for it: Oliver never brought his girlfriends in their room. Felicity was pretty sure they weren’t exactly girlfriends, because she often heard Oliver talking on the phone to his best friend, and she heard a different woman’s name every week. But he never brought them around.

She knew he was having sex. A lot of it, judging by how often he’d go through the condom box he kept out in the open on his bed side table.

Felicity was incredibly happy, that she didn’t have to deal with sexile or awkward morning after coffees with a stranger. It told her that Oliver respected her, somewhat, and that made it easier for her to deal with all the bad things in their relationships.

-+-

There was only one exception to that rule, when one day, Felicity came home from classes to find a beautiful brunet on Oliver’s bed. Thankfully, she was clothed and working on her laptop, but it was still a shock to Felicity.

Laurel, the woman introduced herself, Oliver’s girlfriend who didn’t even know Oliver was rooming with a woman.

‘He probably didn’t want you to worry’, Felicity tried to assure the angry girlfriend. ‘Because there is absolutely nothing for you to worry about. Promise. Except maybe for the fact that… uhm… Oliver isn’t here?’

Laurel studied her for a few more seconds, but after that she visibly calmed down.

‘He’s out getting us dinner.’, she said dismissively.

‘Okay’, Felicity nodded. ‘I’ll just grab my laptop and leave you to it.’

Laurel didn’t say one more word to her.

Felicity texted Oliver, telling him that he should’ve let her know to keep out of the room. He didn’t answer, but two hours later he called to say the coast is clear.

She didn’t ask about Laurel, and he didn’t say anything.

-+-

After that, Oliver stopped telling Tommy about a different woman every week. But he didn’t mention Laurel either.

And the condoms stopped disappearing. A week later, the condom box was moved to the bathroom, where it remained untouched.

Felicity didn’t ask.

-+-

‘Do you have a lot of studying to do tonight?’, Oliver asked her one morning. She was in the bathroom, doing her makeup, but she had left the door open.

‘Not really. Why?’, she frowned.

‘I was going to hang out around here with Tommy for a while. If that’s okay with you.’

‘Tommy, your best friend?’

‘That’s the one.’, Oliver said, appearing in the doorway, leaning against it with his hands crossed over his chest.

Felicity didn’t stop applying her makeup.

‘I thought you said he was in New York.’

‘He is’, Oliver nodded. ‘But it’s my birthday this weekend, so he’s visiting.’

Felicity froze, lip liner half way up to her mouth. She locked eyes with Oliver in the mirror, and he smirked.

‘We’re going out for drinks on Saturday, you’re coming, but Tommy wanted to meet you before that.’

‘No’, Felicity frowned. ‘Why? No.’

‘Yes’, he grinned. ‘Drinks on Saturday, and he’s going to cook us dinner tonight.’

‘Oliver’, Felicity whined, ‘I don’t … go out for drinks in clubs and… things.’

‘But you do drink?’, he raised an eyebrow.

‘Of course I drink.’

‘It’s settled then’, he grinned again, turning around and walking away.

Felicity went back to doing her makeup, but she did yell that she hated him. Oliver just snorted.

-+-

When she got home from classes that evening, Oliver wasn’t there, but Tommy was. In the kitchen, wearing designer jeans and chopping onions.

‘Hi’, he smiled easily, wiping his hands on a towel before extending one for her to shake. Which she did, but fairly slow.

‘It’s nice to finally meet you, Felicity, I’ve heard so much about you.’

‘Oh god’, she groaned. ‘Let me tell you now that none of it is true.’

Tommy raised an eyebrow. ‘Oliver doesn’t lie to me.’

‘Whatever’, Felicity sighed, getting out of her heels and into her bunny slippers. ‘Where is Oliver, anyway?’

‘Getting us wine to go with dinner and some icecream.’

That made her grin. ‘Okay so, where do you want me?’

Of course, that’s when Oliver came back home.

Tommy blinked, ignoring the arrival of his best friend. ‘Usually, I like my women on the bed.’

Oliver dropped his phone to the floor.

Felicity spluttered, blushing instantly. ‘I meant, how can I help?’

‘No helping’, Oliver said with finality, picking up his phone. ‘He said he’d cook us dinner, so he’s cooking us dinner, we are not moving a muscle tonight.’

‘That’s rude’, Felicity pointed out.

‘He’s known me since I was born, I can be rude.’

‘Well I can’t. So I’m doing the dishes’, Felicity raised her chin.

‘It’s fine, Felicity’, Tommy smiled at her. ‘You look like you need a break.’

‘Charming’, Felicity snorted.

‘You do look tired’, Oliver frowned. ‘Still beautiful, but tired. Did something happen at school?’

Felicity froze for half a second, but she shook herself out of it as fast as she could, deciding to not address the fact that it was the first time in the two months they’ve known each other that Oliver complimented her.

‘It’s just been a long day’, she smiled.

‘Good thing I got icecream, then’, Oliver grinned.

-+-

She enjoyed herself, that evening. Tommy acted like a buffer, between Felicity and Oliver. Every time they’d get into an argument, when it got too heated, Tommy was there to change the subject or decide which of them was right.

And with Tommy there, Felicity enjoyed spending time with Oliver. She liked his humor and sarcasm, and the way he lit up when he talked about his sister. Felicity loved seeing him blush, at whatever embarrassing story Tommy was telling.

It was the first time that Felicity realized that Oliver wasn’t a bad guy. He was just hell to live with.

-+-

Oliver didn’t come home Friday night, but that was a given. He did text Felicity though, telling her to not wake him up in the morning and that Tommy will be picking them up around 9pm.

Felicity spent the Saturday pampering herself. She woke up late, got a haircut and a manicure, had lunch in a proper restaurant and spent the next few hours shopping.

When she got home, near to 4pm, Oliver was still in bed, watching tv, two half empty boxes of pizza surrounding him.

‘I’m not going to apologize’, he said stubbornly. ‘Or feel embarrassed. It’s my birthday, I can be a hermit.’

Felicity snorted. ‘So do you want your present now or…’

Oliver quickly threw the pizza boxes on the ground, smiling excitedly and patting the space next to him. Felicity didn’t sit down, but she did hand Oliver the small gift she had for him, which was wrapped in black paper and had a bright green bow on it, bigger than the box itself.

He glared at the bow like it personally offended him, making Felicity snicker. But when he took the bow off, he stuck it to his bedside lamp, much to her amusement. When he opened the jewelry box, he kind of… froze. He stared at the silver ring for a while, taking a deep breath before taking it out of the box.

‘It’s supposed to be calming’, Felicity explained. ‘You can play with it, cause the smaller circle, the one with the arrows on it, it turns. And that’s supposed to calm you down. Or, you know’, she shrugged, ‘keep you busy in boring classes.’

‘It’s silver’, Oliver said, still staring at the ring. He didn’t put it on, but he did start to play with it.

‘You wear silver’, Felicity frowned.

‘It has arrows.’

‘You know how to shoot a bow and arrow.’, she raised an eyebrow, sitting down next to him on the bed. ‘Tommy told me the other day, remember?’

Oliver turned to look at her, a deep frown between the eyebrows.

‘You don’t have to wear it if you don’t like it’, Felicity smiled. ‘I tend to suck at gift making.’

‘It’s not that’, he shook his head, closing his fist around the ring. ‘I like it, it’s just that it’s too much.’

Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘I don’t think you’re very used to saying that sentence.’

‘I’m not’, Oliver agreed, easily. ‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t realize when it happens. This is too much, Felicity.’

‘It’s not.’

‘You hate me’, he said softly, still frowning.

Felicity sighed and leaned back on the bed, propping her shoulders against the wall. Oliver followed her with his eyes, clenching his fist tighter around the ring.

‘I don’t hate you, Oliver’, she finally said. ‘I don’t _know_ you and I hate your taste in TV and your aversion for having a dirty clothes hamper.’

He didn’t say anything, kept watching her, until Felicity got fidgety under his gaze.

‘Is that acceptable?’, she asked with raised eyebrows.

Oliver tilted his head to the side, but he smiled in the end. He put the ring on his right pointer finger and lifted his hand to watch the way it sat on his hand.

‘It’s acceptable.’

‘Great’, Felicity grinned, getting up from the bed. ‘I’ll go shower, and take a nap before tonight.’

Oliver got up too, faster that Felicity could process, wrapping a hand around her shoulders and bending down to kiss her quickly on the cheek.

‘Thank you’, he said softly, radiating sincerity. ‘I appreciate it.’

Felicity smiled and all but rushed to the shower, trying her best to ignore the way her stomach was fluttering. She really didn’t want to think about what that meant.

-+-

9pm found Felicity in the bathroom. She was wearing a simple black dress that stopped mid-thigh, her hair was curled and her lips were painted dark red.

When she was certain that she looked good enough, Felicity got out of the bathroom and headed towards the dresser, intent on picking out a pair of high heels.

She didn’t realize Oliver was staring until she sat down on her bed to put the shoes on.

‘Is it too much?’, she frowned. ‘You haven’t actually told me where we’re going, I can change and-‘

‘No’, Oliver shook his head. ‘You look amazing, I just…’, he tilted his head to the side. ‘I’m just more used to seeing you in pajamas.’

Felicity laughed at that, blushing all the while.

‘Well thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself.’

And he really didn’t. Oliver was wearing a fitted dark gray suit, with a dark blue shirt and no tie. He was also grinning, and when Tommy came to pick them up a few minutes later, Felicity and Oliver were both still grinning.

Tommy’s jaw dropped when he saw Felicity. She blushed, but kindly reminded him that she’s not interested, so he should behave. He still told her she looked beautiful. Felicity still blushed.

Oliver all but shoved them out the door.

-+-

The club was loud. Beautiful and fancy, but loud.

They were seated in a booth, though, and it was a bit more secluded. They could hear each other without yelling, so that was good.

Felicity met a lot of people, clearly friends of Oliver’s from school. She shared a class with a couple of the guys, so it wasn’t as awkward as she thought. There were few girls though, just her and someone called Sara, that Tommy told Felicity that she was Laurel’s sister.

Awkward. Felicity moved passt it, though.

-+-

Next thing she knew, she was doing tequila shots with Sara and smothering them down with screwdrivers.

Then, she was doing shots with Oliver and Tommy and being pulled to the dance floor by… everyone.

They all danced together, in a circle, laughing and acting dumb. Felicity was enjoying herself, surprisingly enough.

At one point, Oliver was dancing to her right with a hand around her shoulder, Tommy to her left, holding her hand and Sara was all but grinding against her. That was the point Felicity decided she needed a break, so she excused herself and went back to the booth. Sara followed her/

They both get some water and Felicity did her best to sober up.

‘You’re not what I expected to be’, Sara told her, not unkindly.

Felicity frowned. ‘I don’t know what Oliver told you, but-‘

‘He didn’t’, Sara shook her head. ‘Laurel did.’

‘I barely spoke with Laurel.’

Sara sighed. ‘You know what happened?’

‘No idea’, Felicity answered easily. ‘Oliver doesn’t tell me about his girlfriends.’

‘They weren’t together anymore’, Sara lowered her voice. ‘Not really. Oliver broke up with Laurel before he left for college, but she didn’t accept it.’

‘So he wasn’t really cheating on Laurel with all those… names that changed every week.’

Sara frowned. ‘I thought you said he didn’t talk to you about his girlfriends.’

‘He doesn’t’, Felicity nodded. ‘But he talks to Tommy, and he doesn’t care if I’m in the room.’

‘Well…’, Sara leaned back on the couch, watching her with interest. ‘Oliver explained to Laurel that he doesn’t care about her anymore.’

Felicity flinched. ‘That must’ve been… unpleasant.’

‘She knew it was coming’, Sara shrugged. ‘She just hoped it wouldn’t.’

‘Sara, I don’t… I didn’t have anything to do with that.’

‘I know that now’, the other woman smiled. ‘And I’ll be sure to tell Laurel that.’

Felicity wrinkled her nose. ‘She thought Oliver was cheating on her with me?’

Sara nodded.

‘Well he didn’t’, Felicity nodded with a sense of finality in her voice. ‘Hell, we kind of hated each other at that point.’

‘Not anymore?’

‘I wouldn’t be here if I hated him, would I?’, Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘I just hate living with him. It’s a difference.’

‘Did he change, though?’, Sara leaned forward, getting in Felicity’s space. ‘After Laurel?’

Felicity hummed. ‘He doesn’t get laid anymore.’

Sara blanched at that. ‘Do I want to know _how_ you know that?’

‘He leaves his condom box out in the open. It’ still full.’ Felicity frowned. ‘Why am I telling you this?’

‘Tequila’, she grinned.

Felicity agreed.

They were silent for a few more moments, until Sara put a hand around Felicity’s shoulders and leaned into her.

‘He’s a nice guy, Oliver’, she said softly. ‘He just thinks he needs to be awful. I’ve always said that he just needed someone to… bring out the light in him.’

‘And that someone wasn’t your sister?’, Felicity asked, just as softly.

‘No, definitely not Laurel.’

‘I’m not sure why we’re having this conversation.’, Felicity admitted, making Sara laugh.

‘The answer is still tequila’, was all she said, just as the boys came back.

Oliver shoved himself between them, putting a hand around each of their shoulders.

‘Yes’, he grinned, ‘we need more tequila.’

-+-

Felicity remembers getting into a cab to head home, but that’s about it.

When she woke up, Sara was wrapped around her, her nose buried in Felicity’s hair. She looked under the comforter and realized that they’re both in underwear and what appear to be Oliver’s t-shirts.

Oliver was on his bed, just in his boxers, snoring softly. Tommy was sleeping on the floor, but he was also in the process of getting up.

He groaned when he got up, and Felicity felt very sorry for him. So she got out of bed, slowly, making sure not to wake Sara up, and ruffled Tommy’s hair.

‘I’ll make coffee’, she whispered. ‘Help me with pancakes?’

He just nodded and went to the bathroom.

-+-

Felicity put on a pair of sweatpants and her bunny slippers, and started pulling out things for breakfast. Tommy came and helped her, and they didn’t wake Sara and Oliver until they were done.

Sara didn’t bother with putting more clothes on, but when Oliver stumbled through the kitchen door, he was wearing sweatpants.

When Felicity handed Sara a cup of coffee, they smiled at each other, and Sara shook her head as she sat down.

‘We didn’t sleep together’, she told Felicity with a raised eyebrow. ‘You told me that I am very pretty, but you are very straight.’

‘I am very straight’, Felicity frowned, making the boys snort. ‘We slept next to each other, though. Well, more like one on top of the other. You’re very cuddly.’

Sara giggled and Tommy sighed, dramatically.

‘It’s a good thing you two didn’t hook up. I don’t think my brain could’ve handled it.’

Felicity shoved him, playfully, and went to fix Oliver his cup of coffee. He accepted it, gratefully, and Felicity noticed that he was wearing the ring. She grinned at him, and Oliver grinned right back, until Felicity shook herself out of it and sat down.

‘That was weird’, Sara commented.

‘You’ll get used to it’, Tommy smiled. ‘At least they’re not at each other’s throats anymore.’

‘The day is young’, Oliver said seriously, making them all laugh.

-+-

Things changed drastically after Oliver’s birthday.

They still fought about things, but it wasn’t as hurtful, Felicity thought. It felt more like bantering, fond bantering. She still hated living with Oliver, but she cared about him.

She thought the feeling was mutual.

They started cooking together, every Friday night. They also had breakfast together most mornings, even though Felicity’s classes usually started earlier than Oliver’s.

They compromised about the tv situation, taking turns in watching things they liked, and every now and then watching things neither of them liked. It was a nice social experiment, that usually ended up in a lot of stupid laughter.

Oliver didn’t make a big deal out of Felicity spending late nights typing away at her computer anymore. Now, if he’d wake up during the night and she was still working, he would make her go to sleep.

Felicity stopped yelling at Oliver for leaving his dirty clothes all over the place. Instead, she started pushing them all in the same place, forming a pile of dirty clothes. Somehow, it seemed to be a bit better.

-+-

When Oliver got a nasty cold, Felicity stayed home with him until his fever broke, making him soup and tea. He was pitiful, wrapped in all the blankets he owned and with a growing pile of dirty tissues next to his bed. His eyes were red and he had trouble breathing.

Felicity isn’t sure how she ended up in his bed, being the big spoon while they watched a documentary about whales, but that happened. Twice.

It didn’t feel as weird as it should have.

After he got better, Oliver thanked her by taking her out to dinner. It felt like a date, even though Felicity knew it wasn’t.

She still enjoyed herself, though, and Oliver seemed like he did too.

-+-

When Christmas came around, they both went home. Oliver drove, and it wasn’t until they reached the _You are now entering Starling City_ sign that Felicity told him that her mother wasn’t in town.

Oliver seemed shocked, so Felicity felt the need to explain.

‘My mother and I never got along after dad left us. I ran away from her. That’s why I’m at college, to run away.’

‘I’m sorry’, Oliver said softly.

‘I’m not’, Felicity said brightly. ‘It’s what’s best for me.’

‘So you’re spending Christmas alone?’

‘I volunteer at the Community Center. They do a Christmas dinner for the kids in Starling Orphanage. I’m in charge of the cookies’, she grinned. ‘It’s nice.’

‘It is’, Oliver agreed. ‘Still, you’re not getting rid of me that easily.’

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’, Felicity huffed.

Oliver just shrugged, smiling.

-+-

She should have seen it coming, really. But she didn’t. So Felicity was very surprised when Oliver barged into the door of the Community Center on Christmas Eve, hands filled with huge red Christmas bags that seemed full of toys. Tommy followed suit, carrying even more bags, and a little girl followed them both, with dark curls and a killer smile.

Oliver didn’t come to her, but headed straight for the manager, shaking hands with him and handing him the bags.

Someone pulled at Felicity’s dress, and when she looked down, the little girl that came with Oliver and Tommy was frowning up at her.

‘Are you Felicity?’

‘Yes I am’, she answered, a bit bewildered. ‘Who are you?’

‘Thea Queen’, she answered proudly. ‘Oliver said that you’ll take care of me.’

‘Well then’, Felicity rolled her eyes, ‘we mustn’t disappoint Oliver’.

They both watched as Oliver and Tommy handed out toys to the kids, and Felicity couldn’t help but swoon. Because they were lovely, smiling at the kids, joking with them and receiving hugs upon hugs.

‘You’re brother’s pretty awesome’, Felicity told Thea, who was busy munching on cookies.

‘Yes’, she grinned. ‘He tucks me in and does voices when he reads me bed time stories.’

Felicity felt butterflies in her stomach. ‘You must miss him a lot, huh? He’s at school and doesn’t read to you anymore.’

Thea leans closer, and brought her hands to her mouth, as she whispereds to Felicity.

‘He recorded himself reading my favorites before he left. But I’m not supposed to tell anybody.’

Felicity laughed with tears in her eyes, and that’s the moment Tommy and Oliver decided to sit down next to them. Thea immediately bounced up in Oliver’s lap but he didn’t seem to mind.

‘I just figured out I actually like kids’, Tommy said, somewhat wistfully.

‘Better late than never’, Felicity nodded, turning to Oliver. ‘If I ask what are you doing here, would you answer?’

Oliver hummed, then kissed her cheek quickly. ‘Merry Christmas’, he smiled. ‘I didn’t actually get you a present.’

‘Yeah you have’, Felicity smiled back. ‘You’re ridiculous. Both of you’, she nodded at Tommy too.

‘You love us’, he grinned. ‘And because you love us, you’re going to come to our New Years Eve party.’

‘It’s at my place’, Oliver explained. ‘And it’s a costume party.’

‘A costume party?’, Felicity raised her eyebrows. ‘For New Years?’

‘We really love Halloween’, Oliver nodded, very serious.

‘I get to be a princess again!’, Thea grinned, bouncing up and down.

‘Thea’, Tommy said, amused, ‘princesses don’t usually walk around shooting people with arrows.’

‘Well they should’, Thea pouted.

‘I like you’, Felicity grinned, patting her head. ‘You’re my favorite Queen.’

Thea promptly turned around and stuck her tongue out at her brother, who simply rolled his eyes and hugged her a bit tighter.

‘You’re also coming to dinner, before the party.’, Oliver added. ‘With my parents. Feel free to come in costume.’

Felicity just blinked at him in shock.

‘Don’t freak out’, Oliver smiled at her, kindly. ‘Just be there.’

All she could do was nod.

-+-

She couldn’t really find a proper costume in such a short time, in December!, but she improvised. Felicity took a simple white tank top and printed the Flash logo on it (the program, not the comic book character), paired it with a short, puffy, black skirt, with black tights and a pair of tall black boots, and at the last minute, she got a red jacket to wear on top.

Oliver opened the door dressed as Batman. Tommy was behind him, dressed as Superman. It took Felicity 10 minutes to stop laughing.

-+-

Dinner went surprisingly well, considering Felicity knew absolutely nothing about formal meals and she was sitting at a table with two of the most influential people in the world, who were the parents of her roommate.

But Felicity quickly realized that they were, in fact, just normal people. Oliver’s mother still chastised him when he said a bad word, and his father kept teasing him about this and that.

The only awkward moment came when there was a discussion about school, and Felicity had to explain that she choose the University because it gave her a full scholarship, whereas MIT didn’t.

Oliver and Tommy were quite shocked to find out that she got into MIT. Felicity shrugged, explaining that she’s certain she likes this school more, and that programming is programming, no matter where you study it.

‘It’s still what you hack in your spare time what’s the most important.’

Mr Queen chocked on his wine, while Felicity froze.

‘In the interest of plausible deniability’, she said slowly, ‘let’s all pretend I never said that. But you should invest in a more potent security system for QC. And maybe actually hire a hacker in the IT department, because he'd know how to code your programs to stop people from hacking into them.'

Oliver started laughing, and the dinner went on.

-+-

Before they left for the night, Oliver’s mother managed to corner Felicity, thanking her.

‘For what?’, she asked, bewildered. ‘I should be thanking you, for the lovely dinner.’

‘No’, Moira shook her head. ‘Thank you for looking out for Oliver. I don’t know what you did or what has happened between you two, but he has changed this past few months, and he’s better. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I was when he told me what he planned to do for the Community Center Christmas dinner.’

‘I don’t know what to say, Ms Queen’, Felicity said sincerely. ‘Until Oliver and Tommy, I never had friends. So, honestly, if you say I changed him, then I believe you because he changed me too.’

The older woman smiled at that. ‘Keep at it, will you? And you should come for dinner more often.’

Felicity’s head was spinning by the time Oliver came to look for her.

‘What did my mother do to you?’, he asked, a frown between his brows.

‘Thanked me, and stuff.’

Oliver’s jaw dropped.

‘Can I get a hug?’, Felicity frowned. ‘I feel like now would be a good time to get a hug from you.’

Oliver didn’t even hesitate.

-+-

Once again, Felicity found herself in the middle of the dancefloor, surrounded by strangers, but with Oliver, Tommy and Sara by her side.

They didn’t get as drunk as they did on Oliver’s birthday. Felicity was buzzed, but not a lot. But they still had fun, a lot of fun.

When midnight came around, Felicity got a kiss on the lips from Sara, a hug from Tommy and another one from Oliver.

The hug with Oliver was awkward. He hesitated before, his eyes skipping to her lips briefly. And when he did hug her, it was stiff and Oliver didn’t seemed to be breathing. But Felicity still kissed his cheek when they pulled away, even though she didn’t know what to make of it.

-+-

The party was still in full swing come 3 am, but Felicity was very tired. She decided to go home, said goodbye to Tommy and Sara and then started looking for Oliver.

She founds him in the kitchen, and he promptly insisted on walking her to her car.

‘Are you sure you’re okay to drive?’, he asked for the billionth time. ‘You can sleep here, there’s more than enough rooms.’

‘I’m fine, Oliver.’, she shook her head. ‘Haven’t had alcohol in 3 hours.’

‘Okay.’, he nodded. ‘Text me when you get home, though, and don’t speed.’

‘Thank you for inviting me tonight, I had fun’, she said sincerely. ‘And for… Christmas and everything, really.’

Oliver narrowed his eyes. ‘What did my mother tell you?’

She chuckled. ‘That I changed you, and that you’re better now. I have no idea what that means, but I kinda believe her, you know? Cause that’s what you did to me.’

Felicity can’t read the way Oliver is looking at her. It’s soft, and caring, somewhat confused, but there’s also something else. But she doesn’t have time to dwell on it, because Oliver moves.

He puts a hand around her neck, bringing her to him and Oliver kisses her. It’s not much. He just presses their lips together, his hand on her skin grounding her. Felicity doesn’t manage to close her eyes, so she sees that he did.

She’s in shock, she doesn’t move, she doesn’t breathe, she doesn’t think.

Oliver sighs when he pulls away, but he doesn’t go far, and he doesn’t take his hand from her neck. When he opens his eyes, Felicity readsanxiousness in them.

‘Should I not have done that?’, he whispers.

Felicity takes a deep breath, wrappes her hands around his waist and takesa step backwards, until her back hits her car, bringing Oliver with her.

He yelps, and that makes her smile.

‘You most definitely should have done that’, Felicity whispers breathlessly, delighted to see how he's breathing heavily and how his eyes are wide, moving between her eyes and her lips.

‘And you most definitely should do it again.’, Felicity grins.

It takes three blinks, but when Oliver moves, he pounces. Felicity has his tongue down her throat and his leg is between hers and he's panting and she's panting and her hands are on his ass and one of his hands is under her shirt and Felicity knows that _everything_ will change, but she doesn't even care because kissing Oliver is addictive.

-+-

Who knew, that the solution to Oliver leaving his dirty clothes scattered everywhere was getting into a relationship with Felicity?

They didn’t really need the second bed, considering Felicity slept in Oliver’s every night. So they used Felicity’s former bed as an extension to their closet.

Living with Oliver wasn’t that big of a Hell anymore. Quite the opposite.


	99. Tommy's wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Oliver and Felicity go to Tommy's wedding together. (Yep, he's alive, maybe laurel died instead of him, lol._

The conversation went like this:

Tommy: Felicity, do you want a separate invitation, or are you just coming as Oliver’s plus one?  
Felicity: Uhm…  
Oliver: Put her down as my plus one. Unless you’re planning on bringing someone else?  
Felicity: Uhm…  
Tommy: That’s a “no”. Any food preferences?  
Oliver: She’s allergic to nuts.  
Tommy: Good thing we didn’t choose the cake yet.  
Felicity: Uhm…

She didn’t really acknowledge what was happening, until the day Oliver asked her what color was her dress, so that he could match. Felicity just blinked at him for a long time, then promptly began to panic because she didn’t have a dress. Oliver laughed at her and told her to let him know.

Felicity [found a dress](http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/fc/42/e8/fc42e8906e85aed3d730d402adffbe72.jpg), surprisingly quick. Ir wasn't exactly her usual style, but she loved it, and it looked amazing on her. Of course, when she told Oliver her dress was black and gold, Oliver responded by telling her that gold bowties looks cheesy.

In the end, he chose to wear a dark pink bowtie to go with his black tux. Of course, it matched Felicity’s lipstick perfectly. She had no idea how he did it, but he did, and she had to admit, they looked pretty amazing together.

It was weird, though. Because Oliver was the best man, and everybody was coming over to talk to him, and every time, Oliver introduced Felicity as his date. She thought it was weird. She felt weird, and awkward, and when Oliver spent his best man speech with his hand on her shoulder, Felicity gathered up enough courage to ask if they were on a date.

‘It’s odd’, Oliver said, frowning, ‘To make a wedding into a first date. But I feel like we’ve been on a lot of dates before’, he smiled. ‘Nobody expects us to be normal.’

Felicity blinked. ‘Is that a yes?’

Oliver laughed and kissed her nose.

For the rest of the night, she tried to ignore that little piece of important information. So Felicity had fun.

She waltzed with Digg, goofed around with Roy, slow danced with Tommy. At one point, Felicity vividly remembers being in a circle with Thea and Roy, Laurel, Lyla, Tommy and his wife, dancing like maniacs to Mr. Brightside.

Thea caught the bouquet, much to Oliver’s horror. He paled, instantly, and glared at Roy with such force, it sent a shiver down Felicity’s smile. Roy was too busy laughing, though, and kissing his girlfriend. 

When Oliver asked her to dance, he didn’t let go of her for the rest of the night. Felicity has no idea how many songs they danced to, or what they talked about, but she knows that it felt right.

Oliver drove her home and kissed her before they got out of the car. When she started laughing, Oliver looked utterly devastated. She kissed him again, just to make him calm down, but she couldn’t stop laughing.

‘Why are you laughing?’, Oliver asked, exasperated.

‘Because everybody knows that on the first date, you kiss the girl on the porch, not in the car!’

Oliver pouted.

‘It’s okay, though’, Felicity patted his knee, looking fondly at him, ‘because nobody expects us to be normal.’

***

Three days later, Felicity gets an e-mail for Tommy. It’s just a grinning emoticon, and an attachment, a picture of her and Oliver from the wedding. They’re dancing, and Felicity is smiling fondly at him, if not a bit exasperated, while Oliver is grinning like a child on Christmas morning.

It’s an incredibly picture, and it makes Felicity’s heart do a samba and she grins like an idiot for a long time. But it doesn’t stop her from e-mailing Tommy back.

_You’re on your honey moon, Tommy. Go back to making babies and forget about your best friend’s relationships for a while._

Five minutes later, Tommy texts her a picture of him shirtless in bed, with his wife by his side, barely covered by a sheet.

Three minutes later, Tommy gets a text from Oliver’s phone, a picture of Felicity in bed, her hands covering her face and her naked chest covered by Oliver’s arm.


	100. the Gladiator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _I know you ave like a bajillion prompts but If you have time I would love to see a Roman!AU where Oliver is a gladiator and Felicity is a slave/maid._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was surprised by how much I enjoyed writing this prompt. Hmfpt.  
> PS: I really do not know any history. The closest thing I got to learning about the gladiators was when I visited the Colosseum.

He was the best, he knew he was. He had to fight every week, for his life and for maintaining his rank. Because that meant better food, a bed and water to wash.

He knew his name was Oliver. And every week, he had to fight in the Arena. Nothing before and nothing after mattered.

→⃝←

He spent all his time in a cell. He got a bed and more food that the others, and every other day, a bucket of water to wash, and that was a lot more than the rest of the fighters got.

Oliver was used to this life, no matter how horrible it was. He could barely remember what was before it. 

→⃝←

In the middle of the week, come nightfall, the door opened and Oliver jerked upright, because that wasn’t the routine.

A guard came in, carrying two buckets of water and followed by a woman. She had her hands full of rags and a big bag on her shoulder.

‘You’ve been here for two years’, the guard told Oliver. ‘That’s a record. Master said you deserve a woman.’

And with that, he was gone, leaving Oliver staring at the woman in front of him.

She was beautiful. Even though her clothes were dirty and rugged, and there were traces of dirt on her cheeks and neck, she still looked put together. Her hair was braided, a ray of sunshine in the dark cell. Her hands were clean, red like she scrubbed at them for hours, but clean. She was looking down, but keeping her back straight. She didn’t look afraid.

‘What’s your name?’, he asked ruggedly. Oliver doesn’t really remember the last time he spoke outside of the Arena.

‘Felicity’.

Her voice broke, but she went on. ‘I’m here to clean your wounds, and whatever else you want of me, master.’

‘Don’t call me that’, he rasped out. ‘My name is Oliver.’

She looked up at that, and his breath hitched when he saw how beautiful her eyes were.

‘Oliver.’, she said softly, bobbing her head. ‘Will you let me clean your wounds?’

He nodded, and moved to take off his clothes. Felicity helped, not flinching when she saw the open wounds on his body, or the ones that were already scarred. She cleaned him, thoroughly, washing the rest of his body too, putting different dusts and potions on his wounds that made them hurt less.

His back was the worst, this time. So Felicity asked him to sit on the bed, on his front, while she worked. The whole process was done slowly and methodically, and Felicity was quiet through it, for which Oliver was thankful. When she was done, she asked him in a very small voice if he wanted her to take off her clothes.

‘No’, Oliver was quick to answer. ‘I’m not going to take advantage of you, you have my word.’

She was silent for a few long moments, but then Oliver felt her fingers brushing through his hair.

‘Thank you’, Felicity whispered, her voice breaking again. ‘They’re not going to come back for me before sunrise.’

‘Then we sleep. I’ll take the floor.’

He tried getting up, but Felicity stopped him by pushing a hand on the back of his neck, the only space on his back that wasn’t hit.

‘Stay on the bed’, she pleaded. ‘It’s a smaller chance of infection.’

Oliver tried to argue, but he blinked and a wave of exhaustion passed over him. The last thing he heard before passing out was Felicity’s soft voice urging him to sleep.

→⃝←

Felicity wasn’t there when he woke up the next day, but every other day, she would be brought. She’d clean his body, tend to his wounds and ask if he’d like for her to take off her clothes. He always said no.

→⃝←

Most of the times, Oliver was stopped before he got to kill his opponent in the Arena. This time, he wasn’t.

Seeing Felicity walk into his cell came as a relief.

‘Did you see?’, was the first thing Oliver asked her, even before the guard was out of the room.

Felicity just nodded and kneeled in front of him, focusing on scrubbing the blood off his hands.

‘I’m not a monster’, Oliver found himself whispering.

Felicity looked up at him, and Oliver couldn’t handle how soft her expression was, because that was the last thing he deserved. So he looked away, but she wouldn’t have it, because Felicity grabbed his head with both of her hands, and gently turned it towards her, until Oliver was forced to look at her.

‘I know you’re not a monster’, she told him, forcefully. ‘You’re a survivor, and in order to keep on surviving, you need to believe that.’

For the first time in years, Oliver cried.

→⃝←

He made room in the bed for Felicity that night. She hesitated, but he looked her dead in the eyes and assured her that he will never break the promise he made to her the first night.

Felicity sat down on the bed, leaning with her back against the wall, cradling his head in her lap. After she blew out the candle in the room, she started playing with his hair, like she always did, and it always helped Oliver wind down.

But not tonight.

‘Talk to me’, he whispered into the darkness of the room. ‘Please.’

‘About what?’

‘Anything.’

And so she did, whispering softly all night long.

About how her mother was the master’s favorite slave. About how the woman volunteered Felicity to pleasure the longest fighting gladiator, just because it would please the master. And if the master was pleased, so was his hooker.

Her mother spent most of her nights in the master’s bed, while Felicity slept on one of the beds the healers had in his working quarters. The healer was a nice old man, who was willing to take Felicity out of sleeping in the barn with the animals, if she cleaned for him. Which she did, and he started teaching her basic things, because she was a fast learner.

‘You were supposed to sleep with me’, Felicity admitted in the dark. ‘I convinced the master to let me take care of your wounds first by telling him it would make you stronger.’

‘Thank you’, Oliver managed to rasp out, his heart breaking for Felicity.

‘I wish I could do more’, she sighed, wrapping her fingers around his.

Oliver didn’t hesitate in squeezing back, and that was important.

→⃝←

After that night, Felicity always slept in the bed, running her fingers through Oliver’s hair until he fell asleep.

→⃝←

When Oliver got sick, Felicity didn’t leave his side for a week.

They both begged the guards and the master, who came to the cell himself. They begged for Oliver’s life, because gladiators were executed if there weren’t able to fight anymore.

But Oliver wasn’t hurt in a fight, he was fighting a fever. So the master agreed.

And Felicity didn’t leave his side. She bathed him and fed him, held him when he shivered and rubbed him with weird powders.

She didn’t go away even when the hallucinations started. She just tied him down and pushed him to the bed, doing her best to ground him, bring him back. She cried when he screamed in pain and Oliver doesn’t think she slept at all that week.

When his fever finally broke, and his strength was coming back, Felicity cried again, but this time in happiness. Oliver just held her to his chest for as long as she needed it.

→⃝←

Oliver doesn’t know why that changed anything, but it did.

After the next fight, after she washed him, they were lying in bed, Oliver on his back and Felicity on her side.

He was hard, he always got hard when she cleaned him, and Felicity usually ignored it completely. But not tonight.

Tonight, Felicity leaned into him, pressing her lips to his neck, making him freeze. She slowly pushed her hand inside his pants, and Oliver grabbed her wrist to stop her.

‘You’re not taking advantage of me’, she told him, strongly. Then she kissed his neck, still not moving away. ‘I want to do this, will you let me do this for you?’

Oliver couldn't say 'no' even if he wanted it, because Felicity was the only person in the world he trusted. She was the first person who made him feel anything after a long time, she was the only light in the darkness that surrounded him, and Oliver knew, that if he were capable of love anymore, Felicity would be he salvation.

So Oliver let go of her wrist and nodded weakly, closing his eyes.

Felicity was weary at first, curious. She tried different ways of turning her wrist, tightening her hold and speeding up, watching his reactions closely. She never took her lips away from his neck, she never kissed him, but he felt her breath on his skin, and that made him shiver in a delightful way. It was clear that she had never done this before, but it still only took a few minutes for Oliver to come all over her hand, his breaths coming out in short pants, his eyes shut tight and groaning her name.

‘Was that alright?’, she asked, uncertain, and all Oliver could do was nod and hug her tightly.

→⃝←

Felicity kept doing that, but only after fights. She always asked before, she never asked for anything in return, and they’d always fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

→⃝←

‘I’ve been here for three years’, Oliver told her one night. Her back was to his chest, and their fingers were intertwined over her stomach.

‘I would’ve brought you some wine, had I known it was a day of celebration’, Felicity giggled, trying to lighten the mood.

‘I don’t want to be here in three more’, he admitted, even though his voice broke over the words.

Felicity was silent for a long time, but she didn’t push away from Oliver’s hold.

‘I don’t want you to die’, she finally said, and Oliver could hear that she was crying. He couldn’t find it in him to answer, so he just held her tighter.

→⃝←

After the next fight, Oliver didn’t let Felicity push a hand down his pants. Instead, he reversed their roles.

He was the one to push a hand up her dress, he was the one who asked her if he could, she was the one who said yes.

Felicity was the one left panting and screaming his name, and Oliver loved every second of it.

→⃝←

He demanded to speak with the master the next day.

Oliver proposed a trade to him, his life for the best entertainment Rome has ever seen.

The deal was this: Oliver would battle the worst thing the master could get his hands on. If he’d win, he’d be free. The master would pay him as he’d pay one of his servants for three years worth of work, and Oliver would be free to go, taking Felicity with him.

If his opponent would defeat Oliver, he’ll die.

→⃝←

Before the fight, Oliver was in the tunnel, waiting for the gate to the Arena to open.

He heard her cries before he saw her.

When Felicity was by his side, she pushed him. Over and over again, until his back hit the wall, and then she just looked at him for a few seconds.

She was crying, and Oliver hated seeing her hurt. So he wiped her tears away, letting his hand rest on her neck.

‘I’m sorry’, he said softly. ‘But I can’t do this anymore.’

‘I can’t live without you’, Felicity rushed the words out. ‘I can’t, do you understand?’, she breathed out, desperately, shocking Oliver into silence.

‘If you die, I die and I can’t… I won’t…’

Felicity didn’t manage to finish her thought. Instead, she took Oliver’s helmet off and threw it to the ground, quickly pressing her lips to his.

He gasped, but Felicity only took that as an invitation.

Oliver doesn’t know for how long they kissed, but Felicity pulled away when they heard the master’s voice, announcing the fight. Oliver felt raw, and exposed, and he has never been this scared in his life. Because now, he had something to lose.

‘You’re fighting a cheetah’, Felicity whispered against his lips. ‘It’s the fastest animal in the wild, so you have to aim for its legs.’

And then she was gone, running the other way and not looking back.

→⃝←

Oliver won the fight, by stealing a bow and arrow from one of the guards and shooting the cheetah in the leg.

The master held his part of the deal, giving Oliver money and his freedom.

Felicity was waiting for him outside of the master’s quarters. After she was in his arms, he didn’t let go until they were miles and miles away from Rome.


	101. What do you want?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [let-love-inn](http://let-love-inn.tumblr.com/) asked: _Prompt, if you're taking! After the spoiler implying Felicity's part of everything Oliver wants, we have her asking "Tell me what you want" or a conversation around that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **IT IS DONE, MY FRIENDS!**  
>  100 drabbles + 1 cover art.  
> Now, you should all run along to [Pink on Green: Reloaded](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2541998), because that's where we'll be continuing the fun!

Felicity doesn’t know when it became a thing. It just did, become a thing that Oliver constantly did.

**→Food**

‘Are you okay?’, a concerned Oliver asked her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

‘I think I forgot to eat.’

Oliver frowned. ‘You shouldn’t do that, Felicity.’

‘I know, I know’, she shook her head, embarrassed; ‘I just got really excited about the new computers.’

‘Well then, tell me what you want’, Oliver smiled, ‘and I’ll go get takeout.’

‘Oh, it’s definitely a Big Belly Burger kind of day’, Felicity grinned.

**→Medicine**

Felicity was very glad when Oliver choose to come through the fire escape, she honestly didn’t think she could move to open the door.

Oliver sat next to her on the bed, putting a hand on her forehead. Felicity moaned, because his hand was cold, and it felt very good against her very heated skin.

‘Tell me what you want', he said softly.

‘Pills’, she groaned. ‘Fever reducing pills. And cough syrup. And cuddles.’

‘Okay.’, Oliver said without hesitating. ‘I’ll be right back.’

He came back quickly, with medicine and soup, and even though Felicity was an absolutely disgusting mess, Oliver did hold her until she fell asleep.

**→A break**

‘Felicity’, Oliver said softly, too softly and rational for how mad she was, ‘You’ve been yelling for an hour, and I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t know to help you. Tell me what you want.’

‘A break’, Felicity sighed. ‘I want a break.’

‘I can do that’, Oliver said, smiling softly. ‘Get your coat.’

Oliver took them to a park. They drank a cup of coffee and eat some pastries from a nearby shop, all the while talking about anything that was not related to the problem at hand.

It helped her clear her mind, so when they went back to the Foundry, Felicity was able to fix the problem. Oliver seemed proud of her.

**→A date**

‘You’re freaking out’, Oliver leveled her with an amused look, ‘over your highschool reunion.’

‘Well you’ll never get it’, Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘You’re Oliver Queen!’

He rolled his eyes right back, but then narrowed them. ‘Tell me what you want.’

Felicity laughed. ‘A date? A hot date?’

Oliver tilted his head. ‘Do you want me to come as your date? Or do you want me to convince Roy to do it?’

Her jaw dropped.

‘Or’, Oliver raised his eyebrows, ‘do you want me to crash the party half way through and say we have an emergency at work and you have to go?’

Felicity jumped on him, hugging him tightly. ‘You’re a genius.’

‘I have my moments’, Oliver chuckled.

**→A shirt**

It took forever, for Digg to stitch her wound. It wasn’t very painful, because he did give her a local anesthetic, but the cut was on her back, so she couldn’t see it. It was annoying.

The first thing Oliver did after Digg was done was to hug her as gingerly as he could and kiss the top of her head.

‘Tell me what you want’, Oliver whispered in the silence of the Foundry, not letting go of her.

‘A shirt’, Felicity deadpanned. ‘Considering mine got ruined.’

Oliver snorted out a laugh, surprised, but did give her one of his shirts. Felicity pretended to forget to give it back.

**→You**

The first time Felicity asked Oliver, it was after Sara died. She still felt his lips on hers, but that wasn’t important now. Not at all.

He was in the Foundry, sitting on a stool and looking lost, so lost. He didn’t even notice that she was in a corner of the basement, and that said a lot.

Oliver had just told Digg that he didn’t want to die in here, and that was the most important thing was at the moment.

So Felicity took a deep breath and headed to Oliver, kneeling in front of him and grabbing a hold of his knees.

‘Oliver, what do you want?’

That made him look up, and it broke Felicity’s heart, to see all that pain and desperation in his eyes.

‘You’, Oliver whispered, a tear falling down his cheek. ‘I want you.’

She got up and he didn’t hesitate, Oliver wrapped his hands around Felicity’s waist, and pushed his cheek to her stomach. She cradled his head as best as she could, gently running her fingers through his hair, as Oliver broke down and cried.


End file.
